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Evaluation of Drought‐Related Traits and Screening Methods at Different Developmental Stages in Spring Barley
Author(s) -
Szira F.,
Bálint A. F.,
Börner A.,
Galiba G.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of agronomy and crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.095
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-037X
pISSN - 0931-2250
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-037x.2008.00330.x
Subject(s) - drought tolerance , biology , seedling , agronomy , drought stress , germination , drought resistance , proline , quantitative trait locus , plant breeding , water stress , hydroponics , biochemistry , amino acid , gene
Despite intensive research and breeding efforts, the physiological and quantitative genetic bases of drought tolerance are still poorly understood. The comparison of results obtained from different sources is also complex, because different testing methods may lead to controversial conclusions. This report discusses various drought stress experiments (hydroponics and in soil) in which the plant tolerance was studied at different developmental stages. Tests were performed in the germination, seedling and adult plant stages on the parental lines of five well‐known barley‐mapping populations. The results suggest that drought tolerance is a stage‐specific trait and changes during the life cycle. The effect of drought stress depended not only on the duration and intensity of water deficiency, but also on the developmental phase in which it began. To induce the same type of stress and to obtain comparable tolerance information from the replications, it is recommended that drought stress should be induced at the same growth stage. Correlations between the traits, commonly associated with improved drought resistance (high relative water content under stress, proline accumulation, osmoregulation) with stress tolerance indexes, are also presented, while the advantages and disadvantages of the most frequently used screening methods are discussed.