Screening techniques for drought tolerance in barley (Hordeum vulgare)

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the drought tolerance of 19 Romanian and foreign barley cultivars using following indirect methods of testing: excised leaf water loss (ELWL). relative water content (RWC), pollen deformation rate after osmotic stress using polyethylene glycol 30% and 50% PEG6000 solutions. The relative water content (RWC) in the leaves of the cultivars decreased under moisture stress conditions in all the cultivars. The lowest capacity of dehydration associated with good tolerance to drought was found at the following cultivars: Compact, Andrei, Regal, Secura, Madalin and DH 260/18 line. In case of genotypes Tas, Orizont. DH 254/10. DH 19/1. DH 261/22 and DH 260/12 high values of this parameter shows a low drought tolerance. As about pollen grain deformation rate in PEG 6000(30%) solution, studied cultivars had average values between 29.33% in cultivar Compact and 69.30% in cultivar Tas. Pollen grain deformation rate in PEG 6000(50%) solution was between 71.33% at Compact variety and 91.33% at DH 19/1 line. These test methods are based on the determination of some characteristics closely correlated with plant response to hydric stress conditions. Because for drought tolerance testing many indirect methods were used, it was necessary to establish consistency between the results of these methods based on the Kendall significance coefficient. Genotypes that exhibited a high tolerance to drought based on performed tests were Compact. Andrei, Lyric, Secura and DH 260/18 and genotypes which showed a low tolerance to drought were Tas, DH 260/12, DH 19/1, DH 261/22 and DH 254/10.