The experiment was conducted with thirty-five
wheat genotypes at the research field of the Department of Agronomy of the Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University from November 2011 to March 2012
to screen out the wheat genotypes for drought tolerance of thirty-five wheat
genotypes under water deficit condition. The experiment was carried out in a
split-plot design comprising two water regimes in main plot and thirty-five
wheat genotypes were placed randomly in sub-plot with three replications. From
this experiment, it was found that water deficit condition severely reduced the
plant height, number of effective tillers m﹣2, spike length, number
of spikelets spike﹣1, number of grains spike﹣1 and
thousand grain weight. Based on the percentage of yield reduction, the
genotypes BARI Wheat 26, Sourav, BAW 1169 and BAW 1158 were categorized in
tolerant group exhibited low yield reduction (>30%) and the genotypes Seri,
Pavon, BAW 1166, BAW 1167, BAW 1171 and BAW 1173 were ranked in susceptible
group due to very low yielding ability with high yield reduction which ranged
from 50.01% to 59.17% in water deficit condition. The maximum increased canopy
temperature was recorded in the genotypes BAW 1166, BAW 1167, Seri, Pavon and
BARI Wheat 25. The minimum was in the genotypes BARI Wheat 26, BAW 1157,
Sourav, BAW 1169 and Gourab. The highest MP, GMP and STI values were recorded
in the genotypes BARI Wheat 26, BAW 1158, Sourav, BAW 1169 and BAW 1170. Our
results revealed that BARI Wheat 26, BAW 1158, Sourav, BAW 1169 and BAW 1170
were more capable to tolerate water deficit condition.