different physiological response to drought in bread and durum wheat genotypes

there is limited knowledge about physiological and biochemical functions of bread wheat and durum wheat genotypes in response to drought stress. to study differences of drought-sensitive bread and durum wheat genotypes to drought stress, this study was conducted under two different irrigation regimes (well-watered and water-stressed treatments) under glasshouse conditions. the experiment was conducted in completely randomised design (crd) with 4 replications. the drought stress adversely affected both bread and durum wheat genotypes; however, reduction of biomass, root length, net co2 fixation, respiration, leaf and root osmotic potential, water use efficiency was more sever in bread wheat genotype than durum wheat. on the other hand, in response to drought, durum wheat genotype showed higher accumulation of protein and proline in root and leaf than bread wheat genotype. it can be concluded that bread wheat and durum wheat genotypes differed in their response to drought, and durum genotype had better function to alleviate adverse effects of drought stress. this suggests that durum cultivation may improve the productivity under dryland conditions.