Computation of Drought Effects on Yield and Quality of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Via Reckoning of Morpho-Physiological Responses

Drought stress considerably affects the growth, yield as well as quality traits of wheat. Thus, the assessment of drought stress on the growth of wheat plants is very crucial to identify superior genotypes. This research explored how drought stress affects wheat grain yield and associated traits. Ten wheat genotypes were evaluated under both fully irrigated conditions and drought conditions, where only one irrigation was provided after rouni. Data on growth, yield, and protein content were collected for analysis. There were highly significant differences (P<0.01) observed among the genotypes for all the recorded parameters. Drought stress led to a significant decrease in the number of days to 50% heading and maturity, as well as in plant height (cm), Productive tillers/plant, Normalized difference vegetative index at anthesis (NDVI), chlorophyll index (SPAD), thousand grain weight (g), and grain yield (kg ha-1). On the other hand, protein content amplifies under drought conditions. Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between yield and several traits, including thousand grain weight, productive tillers per plant, protein content, normalized difference vegetative index at anthesis, flag leaf area, and chlorophyll SPAD. Notably, protein content exhibited a positive correlation with yield under drought stress, but a negative correlation under irrigated conditions. Bi-plot analysis indicated that genotypes HYT-70-16 and V-17086 were identified as superior performers in drought conditions for yield and related traits. These identified genotypes, i.e HYT-70-16 and V-17086 can be leveraged in future wheat breeding programs to incorporate desirable traits for developing drought-tolerant wheat varieties.