Impact of Drought Stress on Yield-Related Agronomic Traits of Different Genotypes in Spring Wheat
Zihan Xu,
Xiangjun Lai,
Yi Ren,
Hongmei Yang,
Haobo Wang,
Chunsheng Wang,
Jianqiang Xia,
Zhenlong Wang,
Zhenyu Yang,
Hongwei Geng,
Xue Shi,
Yueqiang Zhang
Affiliations
Zihan Xu
College of Agronomy, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
Xiangjun Lai
State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Yi Ren
College of Agronomy, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
Hongmei Yang
Xinjiang Laboratory of Special Environmental Microbiology, Institute of Applied Microbiology, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, China
Haobo Wang
College of Agronomy, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
Chunsheng Wang
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Crop Biotechnology/Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in Desert Oasis Region, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Nuclear and Biological Technologies, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, China
Jianqiang Xia
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Crop Biotechnology/Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in Desert Oasis Region, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Nuclear and Biological Technologies, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, China
Zhenlong Wang
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Crop Biotechnology/Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in Desert Oasis Region, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Nuclear and Biological Technologies, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, China
Zhenyu Yang
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Crop Biotechnology/Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in Desert Oasis Region, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Nuclear and Biological Technologies, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, China
Hongwei Geng
College of Agronomy, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
Xue Shi
State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Yueqiang Zhang
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Crop Biotechnology/Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in Desert Oasis Region, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Nuclear and Biological Technologies, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, China
Drought stress is one of the major abiotic stresses to wheat worldwide, with negative effects on wheat growth and yield. Assessing genetic variation and drought stress tolerance of key agronomic and physiological traits of spring wheat and screening germplasm resources for higher drought tolerance and yield stability are a prerequisite for developing new, better-adapted spring wheat varieties. This study evaluated nine important agronomic and physiological traits in 152 spring wheat cultivars under non-stress (NS) and drought-stress (DS) conditions. Under DS conditions, grain yield per plot (GYP) and grain weight per spike (GWE) were significantly reduced by 33.8% and 31.7%, and their drought-tolerance indexes (DIs) were only 0.66 and 0.69, respectively, indicating that GYP and GWE are the most susceptible traits to drought stress. The SPAD value of flag leave at flowering stage decreased by 13.9% under DS conditions, and the DI of SPAD was 0.86. In addition, DI-SPAD was significantly positively correlated with DIs of plant height (PH), grain number per spikelet (GPS), grain number per spike (GNS), GWE and GYP, indicating that the drought tolerance and yield of wheat are closely related to chlorophyll retention. Six wheat germplasm accessions were identified for their ability to sustain grain yield and improve drought tolerance simultaneously. These results provide insights into the genetic co-variation between grain yield and drought stress tolerance and provide a theoretical basis for the development of new wheat cultivars with excellent drought tolerance and high yields in the presence and absence of drought.
