Breeding wheat genotypes for water deficit environments

Breeding for drought resistance is difficult to achieve by using single criterion of yield performance under stress, therefore, physiological criteria must be used in selection. Since yield potential has no effect on yield performance under drought stress, the ideotype must be drought resistant and of a reasonably high yield potential. Therefore, under the environments having unpredictable and/or mild drought stress, potentially high yielding genotypes that carry some elementary properties of drought adaption (proper phenology, deeper roots, reduced leaf area etc.) may be desirable. But for more dry areas the components of drought resistance must be increased. Although the survival traits are of limited value where production rather than survival of the species is concerned, these can be included in the environments with intermittent water stress as they delay the time of plant death.