Slama A, Mallek-Maalej E, Ben Mohamed H, Rhim T, Radhouane L. A return to the genetic heritage of durum wheat to cope with drought heightened by climate change.
PLoS One 2018;
13:e0196873. [PMID:
29795584 PMCID:
PMC5967785 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0196873]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2018] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The objective of this work was to perform a comparative analysis of the physiological, biochemical and agronomical parameters of recent and heritage durum wheat cultivars (Triticum durum Desf.) under water-deficit conditions. Five cultivars were grown under irrigated (control) and rainfall (stressed) conditions. Different agro-physiological and biochemical parameters were studied: electrolyte leakage, relative water content, chlorophyll fluorescence, proline, soluble sugars, specific peroxidase activity, yield and drought stress indices. It was revealed that a water deficit increased proline content, electrolyte leakage, soluble sugars and specific peroxidase activity and decreased relative water content, fluorescence and grain yield. According to these parameters and drought stress indices, our investigation indicated that old cultivars are the best-adapted to local conditions and showed characteristics of drought tolerance, while recent cultivars showed more drought susceptibility. Therefore, local cultivars of each country should be kept by farmers and plant breeders to preserve their genetic heritage.
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