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. 2023 Mar 23;12(7):1420.
doi: 10.3390/plants12071420.

Functional Dissection of the Physiological Traits Promoting Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) Tolerance to Drought Stress

Salim Ltaief  1   2 , Abdelmajid Krouma  2   3
Affiliations

Functional Dissection of the Physiological Traits Promoting Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) Tolerance to Drought Stress

Salim Ltaief et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

In Tunisia's arid and semi-arid lands, drought stress remains the most critical factor limiting agricultural production due to low and irregular precipitation. The situation is even more difficult because of the scarcity of underground water for irrigation and the climate change that has intensified and expanded the aridity. One of the most efficient and sustainable approaches to mitigating drought stress is exploring genotypic variability to screen tolerant genotypes and identify useful tolerance traits. To this end, six Tunisian wheat genotypes (Triticum durum Desf.) were cultivated in the field, under a greenhouse and natural light, to be studied for their differential tolerance to drought stress. Many morpho-physiological and biochemical traits were analyzed, and interrelationships were established. Depending on the genotypes, drought stress significantly decreased plant growth, chlorophyll biosynthesis, and photosynthesis; stimulated osmolyte accumulation and disturbed water relations. The most tolerant genotypes (salim and karim) accumulated more potassium (K) and proline in their shoots, allowing them to maintain better tissue hydration and physiological functioning. The osmotic adjustment (OA), in which potassium and proline play a key role, determines wheat tolerance to drought stress. The calculated drought index (DI), drought susceptible index (DSI), drought tolerance index (DTI), K use efficiency (KUE), and water use efficiency (WUE) discriminated the studied genotypes and confirmed the relative tolerance of salim and karim.

Keywords: drought susceptible index; drought tolerance index; durum wheat; photosynthesis; proline; relative osmolyte content.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Net photosynthetic assimilation (An), (b) stomatal conductance (SC), and (c) evapotranspiration (ET) in durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) plants subjected (S, stressed) or not (C, control) to drought stress. According to Fisher’s least significant difference, within columns, means with the same letter are not significantly different at α = 0.05. Standard errors of means of 30 replicates.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Water potential (Ψw, (a)) and relative water content (b) in durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) plants subjected (S, stressed) or not (C, control) to drought stress. According to Fisher’s least significant difference, within columns, means with the same letter are not significantly different at α = 0.05. Standard errors of means of 10 replicates.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relative osmolytes content (ROC, (a)) and proline concentration (b) in of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) plants subjected (S, stressed) or not (C, control) to drought stress. According to Fisher’s least significant difference, within columns, means with the same letter are not significantly different at α = 0.05. Standard errors of means of 10 replicates.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Potassium concentration in shoots (a) and roots (b) of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) plants subjected (S, stressed) or not (C, control) to drought stress. According to Fisher’s least significant difference, within columns, means with the same letter are not significantly different at α = 0.05. Standard errors of means of 10 replicates.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Relationship between plant growth (DW) and drought index based on dry weight (DI-DW, (a)), and between net photosynthesis (An) and drought index based on dry weight (DI-DW, (b)) in six Tunisian genotypes of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) subjected to drought stress. Vertical and horizontal standard errors of means of 30 replicates.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Relationships between drought index based on dry weight (DI-DW) and relative osmolyte content (ROC, (a)), between drought index based on dry weight (DI-DW) and proline concentration (b), and between drought index based on dry weight (DI-DW) and potassium (K) concentration (c) in shoots of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) subjected to drought stress. Vertical standard errors of means of 30 replicates; horizontal standard errors of means of 10 replicates.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Relationships between relative water content (RWC) and relative osmolyte content (ROC, (a)), between relative water content (RWC) and proline concentration (b), and between relative water content (RWC) and potassium (K) concentration in shoots (c) of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) subjected to drought stress. Vertical and horizontal standard errors of means of 10 replicates.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Relationship between relative water content (RWC) and drought index based on dry weight (DI-DW) in durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) genotypes subjected to drought stress. Vertical standard errors of means of 10 replicates; horizontal standard errors of means of 30 replicates.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Relationship between biomass production (DW) and shoot K concentration (a) and between net photosynthesis (An) and shoot K concentration (b) in durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) plants subjected to drought stress. Vertical standard errors of means of 30 replicates; horizontal standard errors of means of 10 replicates.
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