Investigation of the Effect of Drought Stress on Some Morphological and Physiological Traits in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

This research was carried out as a pot experiment to investigate the effects of 4 different drought stresses (FC-100%, 75%, 50%, 25%) created through field capacity (FC) on some morphological and physiological traits of bread wheat cultivars at the heading and ripening stages. In the study, 8 bread wheat varieties (Kate A1, Karahan 99, Tosunbey, Golia, Alpu 2001, Sultan 95, Konya 2002 and Eser) were used as material. The experiment was set up with 3 replications according to the split-plot experimental design, with the varieties main plots and drought stress applications sub plots. In the study, characteristics such as flag leaf area, flag leaf angle, chlorophyll content, stomata number, leaf water loss rate, relative water content, root length and root dry weight were investigated. It was determined that the effect of drought stress applications on all the examined traits was statistically significant. In drought stress applications, flag leaf area, flag leaf angle, chlorophyll content, leaf water loss rate, relative water content, stomata number, root length and root dry weight were respectively 4.01-14.02 cm², 20.00-40.83^o, 36.87-49.07 SPAD, 13.68-17.89%, 48.56%-72.61%, 8.01-10.95, 28.92-77.79 cm and 146.04-473.46 mg. As a result, it was determined that as drought stress increased, flag leaf area, flag leaf angle, chlorophyll content, relative water content, root length and root dry weight decreased, while leaf water loss rate and stomata number increased. In addition, it was noted that drought-resistant varieties had higher values in terms of chlorophyll content, relative water content, root length and root dry weight, while drought-sensitive varieties had higher values in terms of flag leaf angle and leaf water loss rate.