Investigation of Some Turkish Maize Landraces of Water Use Efficiency and Drought Susceptibility Index

Objective: Due to the increasing drought day by day, local plant populations are the biggest source of breeders focusing on developing drought-resistant varieties. The unit dry matter production of maize, which uses a high amount of water, is also higher than other crops. Accordingly, the importance of varieties with high water use efficiency is increasing against the water shortage that the world is facing today. In the study, in which Turkish maize landraces were examined in terms of water use efficiency (WUE) and drought susceptibility index (DSI). Materials and Methods: 16 corn populations and 3 corn varieties were used for control purposes. It was conducted for two years (2016-2017) in two application conditions, in which 150% (I 150) and 50% (I 50) of the evaporated water was given, depending on evaporation. Results: WUE, which varied between 0.32-2.73 kg m-3 in the first year of the study, varied between 0.04-1.97 kg m-3 in the second year of the study. According to the DSI values varying between 0.83-1.17. Conclusion: WUE values of cultivars were higher than Turkish maize landraces. According to the results, 5 maize landraces and two varieties were determined as moderately drought resistant.