Genetic gain in grain yield and drought tolerance of durum wheat breeding lines under rainfed conditions in Iran

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic gain for grain yield, yield attributes and drought tolerance of 11 durum breeding lines and also to compare it with one modern cultivar and two durum and bread wheat landraces in contrasting environment groups in a period of four cropping seasons (2005–09) within the Iran/ICARDA joint project for moderately cold rainfed areas of Iran. The significant genotype × year interaction indicated that the average yield performance of genotypes across environments was not consistent over the years. Genetic gain (%) for grain yield was distinguishable between the stressed and non-stressed environments. A positive genetic gain (27.7 to 23.9%) was observed in the non-stressed environment and a negative genetic gain (−11.5 to −24.1%) in the stressed environment for the breeding lines, compared to the landraces, suggesting that the evaluation of breeding materials under non-stressed conditions should be continued. Unlike the modern cultivar, the landraces were low yielding, and less responsive to non-stressed environments for grain yield and yield attributes. The drought resistance indices, i.e. tolerance index (TOL) and stress susceptibility index (SSI), were better in landraces than breeding lines, while the drought tolerance indices, i.e. stress tolerance index (STI) and drought response index (DRI), were better in breeding lines. In contrast with landraces, the modern cultivar and the breeding lines showed significant changes for both grain yield and drought tolerance.