S. Dencic et al., Evaluation of grain yield and its components in wheat cultivars and landraces under near optimal and drought conditions, EUPHYTICA, 113(1), 2000, pp. 43-52
In a 2-years experiment, 30 wheat cultivars and 21 landraces from different
countries were tested under near optimum and drought stress conditions. Pl
ant height, number of sterile spikelets per spike, number of spikelets per
spike, number of kernels per spike, kernel weight per spike, 1000 kernel we
ight and grain yield were evaluated. The number of kernels per spike, 1000
kernel weight and especially yield were more sensitive to drought stress in
the cultivars than plant height and number of spikelets per spike, while i
n the landraces these traits did not differ under drought stress compared t
o near optimum conditions. The average yield of cultivars was significantly
better than the average yield of landraces under near optimum as well as d
rought stress conditions. Path coefficient analysis showed that for cultiva
rs under near optimum conditions there was no significant direct associatio
n of any of the analysed characters with yield, while under drought stress
conditions, number of kernels per spike had a significant positive direct e
ffect. Under drought stress conditions, the number of sterile spikelets dis
played a negative direct effect, while kernel weight per spike had a positi
ve direct effect on yield. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used as a tool
to classify cultivars and landraces according to their yield ability under
near optimum and drought stress conditions. Among the cultivars, two group
s out of five and among one of three in the landraces were characterised by
high yields in both near optimum as well as under drought stress condition
s. These genotypes may serve as sources of germplasm for breeding for droug
ht tolerance.