Effect of withholding irrigation, physiological, and anatomical traits of varieties of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in central Iraq

Abstract

This study Aim to trying of  find some ways to save water con-sumption of the wheat crop by reducing the irrigation water accord-ingly at the appropriate time in the crop life cycle for some cultivars. under winter growing season 2025-2026. A randomized complete block design (RCBD) was used with a split-plot arrangement and three replications.The first factor included four water-blocking treatments for growth stages: G1(Tillering), G2(elongation), G3(Booting), and G4(flowering), in addition to a control treatment (G0)where no water-blocking was applied,These treatments occupied the main plots ,wile The second  factor included three cultivars (IPA99, Buhouth 10, and Mawada), which occupied the subplots.The results of the study showed that the G0(Control) treatment was significantly excelled for all studied traits, except for the flag leaf proline content trait. However, the G1(Tillering) stage was the most affected of the remaining stages and gave the lowest averages for most of the studied traits, such as the number of tillers, flag leaf chlorophyll index, number of spikes, number of grains per spike, grain yield, and xylem vessel diameter, with averages of 361.63 tillers m-2, 41.84(SPAD),227.44 spikes m-2,50.28 grains per spike-1,4.73 tons.ha-1, and 57.35(μm) for the traits respectively, and without a significant difference from the G2 (elongation) treatment for most of the traits. for the varieties, the variety “Mawda” was superior in all the studied traits except for the trait of weight of 1000 grains, and without any significant difference from the variety “Buhouth 10” for most traits.