Genetic and biochemical studies on some Egyptian wheat genotypes under drought stress

Abstract

BackgroundStrategic crops need to be screened from time to time to select the most tolerant and stable genotypes incompatible with environmental conditions. This research experiments were carried out to screen thirteen Egyptian wheat genotypes under water regime stress to select the most tolerant genotypes to drought conditions in two successive seasons. The studied genotypes were cultivated in rows, and the irrigation duration period between any two successive irrigations was elongated to double period to supply these genotypes with only 50% of the water needed in well watering conditions. This evaluation concerned on some yield production indexes such as spike weight, spike length, spike number, grains number/spike the 100 grains weight and stress susceptibility index and the cytogenetic evaluation index of the pollen grains viability on two successive seasons (2017–2018 and 2018–2019). This screening also carried out some biochemical and molecular analysis on the wheat genotypes at the seedling stage by the end of 2018 (the first season of water regime) targeting total protein profile, proline amino acid accumulation and Betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase-1 enzyme gene expression via semiquantitative RT-PCR.ResultsSids 12 genotype recorded the highest SW, SL and SN. Considering the number of grains/plant and the number of spikes/plant are the principal yield components, and 100 grains weight is the principal yield quality, Sids 12 also declared its tolerance to water regime on regarding the plant productivity to grains’ number/plant and scored the lowest SSI. Pollen viability and protein profile were also affected as a response to the water regime. Proline concentration in fresh leaves emphasizes the tolerance of Sids 12, Misr 2 and Gemmieza 9 genotypes to the water deficit.ConclusionAmong the examined genotypes, Sids 12, Misr 2, Shandaweel1 and Gemmieza 9 and line 20 are recommended to be cultivated in water shortage conditions as they show high performance under water regime conditions.