Etude du comportement de quelques variétés de céréales soumises à un stress hydrique

Abstract

Generally , water deficit is the main abiotic stress significantly limiting cereal productivity in Algeria. The objective of this work is to study the effect of water stress and the variability of responses in three durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) genotypes: Simito, Vitron, and Boussalem; two bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties: Mawna and Hd; and a barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) variety: Souguer. The selected plant material was grown in a randomized block design with five replications and subjected to different water stress treatments with three irrigation levels: control T1 (100% field capacity), moderate stress T2 (70% field capacity), and severe stress T3 (40% field capacity). Morphophysiological and agronomic traits were used to evaluate the tolerance of the genotypes. The results show that the germination rate was relatively high, with a depressive effect on plant growth, particularly in terms of plant height and aerial biomass, which were observed to be lower in stressed plants compared to the control. Water stress had a very significant impact on almost all morphological and agronomic traits, causing a reduction in stem height, flag leaf area, spike and awn length, as well as a decrease in the number of grains per spike. These effects were more pronounced as the intensity and duration of the stress increased. In conclusion, the study showed that water stress induces similar response mechanisms in the studied genotypes but to varying degrees.