Assessment of Triticale (Triticosecale) X Bread Wheat (Triticum Aestivum) Genotypes for Drought Tolerance Based on Morpho-Physiological, Grain Yield and Drought Tolerance Indices Under Non-Irrigated and Irrigated Environments

Wheat being important staple crop urges the need to evaluate and develop new drought-tolerant varieties to sustain its productivity under changing climatic conditions. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the differential morpho-physiological, grain yield and drought tolerance indices responses of 27 triticale x bread wheat genotypes along with eight checks under non-irrigated and irrigated environments in randomized complete block design with three replications. Data on 12 important morpho-physiological and grain yield related traits along with revealed sufficient variability under two environments. Among various traits magnitude of heritability and genetic advance indicated that selection of flag-leaf area, spikes per plant and 1000-grain weight could respond to higher grain yield under non-irrigated environment. Seedling stage traits viz., germination percentage, root length, shoot length, seedling vigour index (SVI) and germination index (GI) under normal (0 bar) and simulated water stress with Polyethylene glycol at -8 bar indicated greater sensitivity of the genotypes to water stress. Five drought tolerance indices viz.,drought susceptibility index (DSI), tolerance index (TOL), stress tolerance index (STI), yield index (YI) and yield stability index (YSI) were also calculated to identify drought tolerant and stable genotypes based on their yields under two environments. Minimum value of DSI, TOL and yield reduction and maximum value of YSI were in harmony with each other to categorized RL 135-P1 RL 22-144 A, RL-110-1P1, RL 128-1 P1 and RL 118-P1 as top five promising drought tolerant and yield stable genotypes. These genotypes could potentially be utilized for drought tolerance wheat breeding program.