The study aimed at identifying and assessing drought tolerance and genetic diversity of twelve wheat genotypes in two diverse irrigation treatments during the two successive seasons of 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. Drought caused decreases in flag leaf area, relative water content and grain yield. Catalaise and perodixdase activities and proline content increased due to stress. Grains yield was significantly different between water stress and normal conditions. Differences varied among wheat genotypes. The highest grain yield was by Gemmiza 11 followed by Giza 168. The genotype Yakora Rojo gave lowest yield but was highly reinstate to water stress. The 5 ISSR primers produced 25 out of 48 amplicons and were polymorphic. The primer 844A gave 14 amplicons, while, the primer HB 8 exhibited 6 amplicons. Sids 13 followed by Yakora Rojo exhibited highest total number of amplicons 36 and 35 amplicons, respectively and may be high of resistance for drought. Cultivars Sids 12, Giza 168 and line 127 followed by Giza 171 gave highest grain yield and stress tolerance index (STI), while Line 145 and Yakora Rojo gave the lowest STI and grain yield. Gemmiza 11 recorded highest stress tolerance (TOL), while, Sids 12 and Giza 168 showed highest mean productivity (MP) and harmonic mean (HM) indicating more stress tolerance. Yakora Rojo exhibited highest yield stability Index (YSI) but gave low yield, though not very low, due to its drought resistance; and can be recommended as a parent in breeding programmers to transfer drought resistance. |
