Evaluation of wheat genotypes for drought tolerance according to physiological characteristics

Wheat is an important cereal crop in human nutrition as well as a fodder plant for animals. Wheat grain yield decreases seriously due to water scarcity during growth and development. Physiological traits are important for screening different wheat genotypes against drought. We studied physiological traits (gas exchange parameters, photosynthesizing pigments content, relative water content, leaf area index) of durum and bread wheat genotypes under irrigated and drought conditions. Wheat genotypes with high indicators of studied traits are usually sensitive to drought stress. Wheat genotypes Sharg, Gyrmyzy bugda, Nurlu 99, 4^thFEFWSN50, and Saratovskaya 29 were tolerant to drought stress.