Soil moisture deficit drives assimilate remobilization and grain yield variability in bread wheat genotypes

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 529 - 538, 26.06.2025

Somayyeh Razzaghi

https://doi.org/10.31015/2025.2.26

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Soil moisture deficit and drought, exacerbated by climate change, frequently affect crop yields. This study aimed to evaluate the physiological and agronomic responses of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes under soil moisture deficit conditions. Field experiments were conducted using a randomized complete block design during the 2015–2016 growing season at the Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Station in southwestern West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. The study treatments were full irrigation and irrigation cutoff at the flowering stage with seven bread wheat genotypes and the Orum, Zare, Zarin, and Mihan cultivars. The bread wheat grain yield and its components, and some physiological traits like the contribution of photosynthesis, assimilate remobilization, and harvest index (HI) were determined in this study. A significant reduction was observed in yield components (spikelets/spike, grains/spike, grain weight/spike, and spike weight) under drought stress. The Mihan cultivar exhibited the highest spikelets/spike (15), grains/spike (38), grain weight/spike (1.62 g), and spike weight (2.17 g). The intensification of drought stress increased the contribution of remobilization of stored assimilates by 25%. The Mihan cultivar had the highest remobilization rate at 52%, while line C-91-7 and line C-91-5 had the lowest at 27 %. The HI decreased by 20% under soil water deficient stress. The Mihan cultivar, with a HI of 50%, and C-91-8, with 41%, had the highest and lowest HI, respectively. The mean comparison of the contribution of the current photosynthesis trait to wheat grain yield from full irrigation to severe water shortage dropped to 41.2%. Under full irrigation and irrigation cutoff conditions, line C-91-4 had the highest grain yield, with 8747 kg/ha and 5039 kg/ha, respectively. Furthermore, the highest grain yield under full irrigation and irrigation cutoff treatment was related to the Mihan cultivar, with 7569 kg/ha and 4856 kg/ha. Based on these findings, the Mihan cultivar and C-91-4 line are recommended for cultivation in semi-arid regions facing water limitations. Understanding physiological traits and yield components is critical for selecting drought-tolerant wheat varieties in the context of climate change.

Keywords

Soil water deficit , Bread wheat , Assimilate remobilization , Photosynthesis , Yield components

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