Eureka! Institutional Repository

During the 2016/17 growing season, an experiment was conducted at the Farm of the A.T.E.I. of Thessaloniki to evaluate drought tolerance of 221 wheat cultivars planted in plastic pots and grown under greenhouse conditions. Drought tolerance was evaluated at two different levels (60% and 100%) of field capacity in three replication for each level. During the vegetation cycle, the germination and tillering ability, fresh and dry weight at two different growth stages (tillering-stem elongation, clear ear emergence) were evaluated.The ANOVA for the wheat characteristics recorded in both stages indicated that the germination ability, the tillering ability and dry weight of the wheat cultivars were significantly affected by the irrigationlevels, the cultivar and the irrigation levels x cultivar interaction. The results of the study suggested that the 221 wheat cultivars showed different drought tolerance. In the some cultivarswas more affected the germination ability, while in the others was more affected the tillering ability or the dry weight. The most of the wheat cultivars were sensitive to drought conditions, while a small number of them were relatively tolerant to drought. Averaged of the two different of irrigation levels (60% and 100%), from 221 cultivars were tested only 17 cultivars showed germination ability of 80-100%., tillering ability of 50-100%, and dry weight of 15-100%. Particularly, at the irrigation level of 60% the majority of the wheat cultivars were sensitive to drought. The wheat cultivars with a relatively higher tolerance to drought growth under greenhouse conditions will be further tested under experimental field conditions in order to select those with the highest tolerance to drought. These cultivarscould be used at the hot and drought areas of our country.