The effect of water stress on some physiological and biochemical traits in five durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) genotypes

Abstract

Water stress is the major environmental stresses that affect agricultural production worldwide, especially in arid and semi -arid regions. This research investigated the effect of water stress in leaf, root and leaf growing zone on five durum wheat genotypes grown in the greenhouse until 3 rd leaf. We use morphological (leaf and root length) and biochemical parameters (Proline, Sugar and relative water content) to quantify the effect of water stress. The rustles showed a significant effect of water stress for all parameters just an exception for the root length. The results indicated that the effect of water deficit on biochemical parameters depended on the combination of water stress and wheat cultivars and organs. T he analyses carried show that under water deficit stress leaf, root and leaf growing zone a RWC was sharply reduced due a combination of leaf growth reduction. Water deficits impose leaf, root and leaf growing zone proline content increase. Based on the biochemical parameters the genotypes Bousselem, Mexicali75 and Waha are the most tolerant genotypes. The use of the morphological traits showed that the genotypes Mexicali75 and Altar84 are the most tolerant for the leaf length and Waha and Bousselem are th e most tolerant when we based in our evaluation on the root length. Over all, the use of the Proline, Sugar and relative water content to evaluate the tolerance of the genotypes to water stress are very suitable under these conditions.