Screening of Jordan Certified Wheat Seedlings for Drought Tolerance

Seven certified Jordanian wheat genotypes were tested for coleoptiles length, total root length and seminal root numbers through planting them in a totally darkened germinator maintained at 20°C to evaluate seedling characteristics using a randomized complete design (RCD) with four replications. Ten seedlings of each genotype were further evaluated to detect seminal root number, average coleoptiles length, total seminal root length. Coleoptile length is related to maximum seeding depth. Significant differences in coleoptile length were noted between cultivars, most wheat landraces had a coleoptile length between Hourani 27 and Hourani Nawawi, 8.5 cm and 6.8 cm, respectively. Two cultivars (Deir Alla 6 and Ammon) had a coleoptile length shorter than 6 cm. Significant differences in the total roots length were noted between wheat landraces and cultivars. Both Hourani 27 landraces and Cham1 showed the highest values of total roots length, 78cm and 66.3cm, respectively. Differences in coleoptiles length, seminal roots number and total roots length observed should be exploited by breeders to improve tolerance of wheat to deep seeding to avoid drought periods.