Screening of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes for drought tolerance using polyethylene glycol

Drought is one of the major and most detrimental abiotic stresses, and uncertainty in precipitation pattern further kindled the situation. Based upon the serious threat, we speculated that to reduce time to see required results, screening of different genotypes at a very early development stage can come up with the identification of potential genotypes and can be used for further breeding. Therefore, this study was conducted to screen ten wheat genotypes viz; V0-7096, V0-7076, V0-5082, V0-5066, Sehar-06, Inqlab-91, FSD-08, Lasani-08, Chakwal-50 and AARI-11 for drought resistance. Firstly, under laboratory conditions, these genotypes were subjected to drought stress in Petri plates by application of polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) solution maintaining − 0.17, − 0.32, − 0.47 and –0.62 MPa osmotic potential. Following this, pot experiment in controlled glass house was conducted at 25%, 50% and 85% field capacity (FC) to further examine the response of wheat genotypes under drought stress. The present study concluded that at the osmotic potential of − 0.62 MPa, Chakwal-50 performed better and attained highest values of emergence index (EI) 27.16%, mean emergence time (MET) 6%, promptness index (PI) 6.50%, germination percentage (GP) 65%, germination stress tolerance index (GSI) 74.35%, plant height stress tolerance index (PHSI) 85.76%, root length stress tolerance index (RLSI) 124.90% and dry matter stress tolerance indices (DMSI) 90.39%, while Sehar-06 showed the lowest values in these traits and showed reduction of 22.0%, 4.20%, 4.33%, 30%, 50.12%, 47.71%, 71.23% and 26.90% respectively as compared to control. Remaining wheat genotypes were intermediate in tolerating drought stress. Overall research study concluded that under drought stress conditions, Chakwal-50 performed best than all other wheat genotypes and could be used for further investigation to develop drought-resistant wheat genotype for maximum production.