EFFECT OF DROUGHT STRESS ON YIELD AND QUALITY TRAITS OF COMMON WHEAT DURING GRAIN FILLING STAGE

Wheat (T. aestivum) has a crucial role for human diet especially in developing countries. Changes in precipitation intensity, amounts and patterns restrict wheat growth and productivity under rainfed conditions. Thus, assessment of drought effects during growth stages of wheat on grain yield and quality traits has substantial importance. Grain filling stage, coincides with early spring when the rainfall pattern highly variable, was considered in this study to evaluate effects of drought conditions on yield and quality of 16 wheat genotypes and determine superior varieties. Drought treatment inhibited plant height (5.5 %), 1000 grain weight (9.2 %) and grain yield (17.7 %) while harvest index increased (8.5 %). However, there was no significant effect of drought conditions on grains number spike-1 and spike numbers m-2. Protein content increased (31.6 %) in all genotypes, while the Zeleny sedimentation significantly decreased (8.2 %) with drought treatments during both growing seasons. Cultivars Pandas and Meta had higher grain yield under drought stress in both years whereas Line-28 and Pandas had better quality properties.