Genetic diversity of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum) to mitigate abiotic stress: Drought, heat, and their combination

Drought and heat are the main abiotic constraints affecting durum wheat production. This study aimed to screen for tolerance to drought, heat, and combined stresses in durum wheat, at the juvenile stage under controlled conditions. Five durum wheat genotypes, including four landraces and one improved genotype, were used to test their tolerance to abiotic stress. After 15 days of growing, treatments were applied as three drought levels (100, 50, and 25% field capacity (FC)), three heat stress levels (24, 30, and 35°C), and three combined treatments (100% FC at 24°C, 50% FC at 30°C and 25% FC at 35°C). The screening was performed using a set of morpho-physiological, and biochemical traits. The results showed that the tested stresses significantly affect all measured parameters. The dry matter content (DM) decreased by 37.1% under heat stress (35°C), by 37.3% under severe drought stress (25% FC), and by 53.2% under severe combined stress (25% FC at 35°C). Correlation analyses of drought and heat stress confirmed that aerial part length, dry matter content, hydrogen peroxide content, catalase, and Glutathione peroxidase activities could be efficient screening criteria for both stresses. The principal component analysis (PCA) showed that only the landrace Aouija tolerated the three studied stresses, while Biskri and Hedhba genotypes were tolerant to drought and heat stresses and showed the same sensitivity under combined stress. Nevertheless, improved genotype Karim and the landrace Hmira were the most affected genotypes by drought, against a minimum growth for the Hmira genotype under heat stress. The results showed that combined drought and heat stresses had a more pronounced impact than simple effects. In addition, the tolerance of durum wheat to drought and heat stresses involves several adjustments of morpho-physiological and biochemical responses, which are proportional to the stress intensity.