Characterization of drought resistance in a wild relative of wheat, Triticum kotschyi

Wild relatives of wheat have served as a genetic source for economically useful traits. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying such traits may be useful in the genetic transfer and selection processes. Research was undertaken to compare the effects of controlled water stress on photosynthetic parameters in Triticum kotschyi, a drought resistant wild wheat and Triticum aestivum cv. Lakhish, a drought sensitive wheat cultivar. During stress development, the leaf water potential decreased at a slower rate, and the quantum yield of oxygen evolution, measured photoacoustically in vivo, decreased to a smaller extent in the drought resistant wild wheat than in the wheat cultivar. The decrease in quantum yield at water potentials from -0.9 Mpa down to -2.3 Mpa was not accompanied by damage to PS II reaction centers as there was no change in variable fluorescence. Below -2.3 Mpa the fluorescence yield of both species decreased indicating loss of intrinsic efficiency of PS II. The osmotic potential of cell sap was found to decrease at the same rate in both species at high hydration states. Proline accumulated to a much greater extent in the wild wheat as compared to the cultivated wheat as a result of water stress. Drought resistance was also examined in relation to thylakoid membrane fluidity measured by fluorescence polarization. Thylakoid membrane fluidity was fully maintained in the wild wheat, but decreased substantially in the wheat cultivar, at equal tissue water potentials below -1.9 Mpa. One mechanism for maintaining the higher quantum yield of oxygen evolution during severe stress (at water potentials below -1.9 Mpa), may involve the greater stability of thylakoid membrane fluidity in the wild wheat.