Wheat Breeding in a Water-stressed Environment. I. Delineation of Drought Tolerance and Susceptibility

To elucidate genotypic differences expressed through the grain yield of drought-stressed wheat, 21 commercial varieties and advanced lines were evaluated in the field under a range of soil water levels to induce varying degrees of drought stress. This paper presents data on grain yield and yield-based indices to indicate drought tolerance and drought susceptibility. AZS-4 was identified as drought tolerant and AZS-17 and ‘Pavon’ as drought susceptible. High gram yield under stress can be explained in terms of high yield potential, thus grain yield proved to be the best indicator of drought tolerance.