Unraveling the ability of wheat to endure drought stress by analyzing physio-biochemical, stomatal and root architectural traits

Projected changes in the occurrence and severity of climatic events will negatively affect the wheat yield. Therefore, high-yielding and abiotic stress tolerant cultivars are crucial to establish tolerance through wheat breeding program. The current study is a move towards discovering the genetic materials that have the ability to tolerate drought stress. A set of twenty-seven diverse Indian wheat genotypes consisting mutant lines, genetic stocks, released varieties including checks was assessed under controlled environmental conditions at ICAR-IIWBR, Karnal for the study. Initially, the genotypes were screened based on the morpho-physiological traits followed by biochemical analysis to determine their antioxidant activity. The water stress significantly affected morphological, physiological and biochemical machinery of the plants. The root architectural traits were also studied for the selected genotypes. Simultaneously, the stomatal traits were recorded as supplementary characteristic to comprehend its genetic control for investigating the tolerance. Based on recorded traits and matrix scoring genotypes were categorised as tolerant, moderately tolerant, moderately susceptible and susceptible. The correlation study represented positive association of plant height with spike length, spike weight, number of grains per spike, grain weight per spike, harvest index, grain filling duration and days to anthesis. The identified genotype could be further employed in wheat breeding program. So, the experimental findings encompass the ability of the identified wheat genotypes to withstand drought.