Genetic variation and interrelationships of agronomic characteristics in durum wheat under two constructing water regimes

Abstract

This work aimed to study the grain yield components and plant characteristics related to grain yield. Twenty-four durum wheat genotypes from the ICARDA durum wheat breeding program were grown during 2006-2007 under rainfed and irrigated conditions using a complete randomized block design with three replicate in west of Iran. Correlation and path analysis were carried out. Results showed that there was strong positive association of grain yield with the number of seed /spike, biomass and harvest index. Grain yield was negatively associated with spike length and plant height in different moisture conditions. Comparatively, high genetic variation was found in grain yield and other characteristics. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used as a tool to classify the genotypes according to their grain yield ability under optimum and drought stress conditions. Among the genotypes, one of three groups of genotypes were characterized by high grain yield in optimum and drought stress conditions. These genotypes could be used as source of germplasm for breeding for drought tolerance.