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Farming & Management

Mitigation of drought stress in promising wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes for future breeding programs 


DOI: 10.31830/2456-8724.2026.FM-183    | Article Id: FM-183 | Page : 11-17
Citation :- Mitigation of drought stress in promising wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes for future breeding programs. Farm. Manage. 11: 11-17
MUKTI RAM POUDEL, NEERU LAMSHAL, RIJAL ANUSKA, GHIMIRE MANISHA, GHIMIRE PRAKRITI, LAMSAL KARUNA AND KAFLE KRITI Muktipoudel8@gmail.com
Address : Department of Plant Breeding, Paklihawa Campus, Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Tribhuvan University, Bhairahawa, Lumbini, Nepal
Submitted Date : 23-02-2026
Accepted Date : 11-04-2026
Online Published:

Abstract

Drought is one of the most prevailing issues that limits crop production and yield, particularly in wheat grown under rainfed and water-limited conditions amid increasing climatic variability. Therefore, identifying and evaluating drought-tolerant winter wheat lines based on key physiological and adaptive traits is essential to enhance resilience and sustain productivity under stress environments. The experiment was conducted on a year 2023-2024 during winter at IAAS, Paklihawa – Nepal with the goal of determining drought-resilient genotypes by comparing stress tolerance and looking into water limits and the effects of drought on wheat yield characteristics. The main aim of this experiment was to assess tolerance of seventeen advance lines and three commercial check varieties of wheat genotype to drought stress. Alpha-lattice experimentation was used, with two replications. Based on grain yield, six indices (TOL, GMP, MP, YSI, STI and SSI) were computed to evaluate drought tolerance. Correlation coefficient analysis revealed highly positively association between yield grain with GMP (0.846**) and YSI (0.756**) in stress condition and TOL (0.982**), MP (0.984**) and GMP (0.683**) in non-stress condition. Among the indices TOL, GMP, MP and YSI were the indicators that were most dependable for assessing stress tolerance. Drought indices identified genotypes NL-1447, Bhrikuti, NL-1445, NL1488 and RR-21 as a highly drought tolerant. Conversely, Highest value had emerged by genotype NL-1488(881.55) and genotype NL-1447(5943.5) in stress (Ys) and non-stress (Yp) conditions, respectively. With the goal of creating drought resistant wheat varieties and improving food security in drought affected areas, these genotypes have been identified as good candidates for breeding programs.

Keywords

Drought environments genotype indices irrigated 

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