Morpho-physiological markers associated with Water Use Efficiency in Algerian durum wheat at different water regimes

Water use efficiency is controlled by several physiological mechanisms. It is considered as an important trait that has been associated with drought tolerance of crop plants. In this work, we investigated WUE and its components on ten Algerian durum wheat cultivars of different origins under controlled conditions. Plants were sown at different water regimes (95% considered as well watered treatment, 60%, 20% considered as dry treatments). A set of parameters (relative water content RWC, chlorophyll content (SPAD index), leaf temperature LT°, stomatal conductance (gs),Leaf area (LA) and Specific leaf weight (SLW)) describing plant response to water deficit were measured. WUE was estimated as the ratio of total dry matter on the total water consumption. Our objective was to evidence differences among cultivars in response to drought stress. ANOVA analysis reveals a significant difference between varieties in response to the applied water treatments, Genotypes that have shown high values of WUE, TDM, RWC, Chlorophyll content and LA under dry treatments could be suggested as Algerian drought tolerant genotypes. Based on the correlations between WUE and the studied parameters our study may suggest some morpho-physiological traits associated with water use efficiency and drought tolerance.