8th INTERNATIONAL WHEAT CONFERENCE

SeLeCTINg WINTeR WheAT geNoTyPeS foR LoW
ANd hIgh yIeLd PoTeNTIAL AReA By uTILIzINg
SuPPLemeNTAL IRRIgATIoN
Mesut Keser 1 , Alex Morgounov 2 , Beyhan Akın 2 ,
Yukesl Kaya 3
1 International Center in Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Ankara, Turkey
2 Internatioanl Wheat and Maize Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Ankara, Turkey
3 Bahri Dagdas International Research Center, Konya, Turkey
E-mail Address of presenting author: M.Keser@cgiar.org
Wheat is the main staple crop in Central, West Asia and North Africa (CWANA). Recent
surveys reveals that more than 16 million ha winter wheat (WW) grown in CWANA
region. Though there are irrigated WW grown in the region, most of the wheat have
been grown under rainfed conditions. WW has been grown under diverse environmental
conditions from very cold to mild and from very dry to humid. Accordingly with climatic
conditions, soil characteristics and growing conditions yield varies from 1 ton to 4-5 ton
per ha under rainfed or supplemental irrigated conditions where there is little available
water to irrigate wheat when needed.
International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (IWWIP) has been carried out jointly
by Turkey, CIMMYT and ICARDA (TCI). This is the only international program for
international germplasm development and distribution globally to around 100 breeding
programs in 50 countries, though the main focus is CWANA. The breeding activities
have been carried out in Turkey and Syria. The material have been developed for different
growing conditions (Semi Arid and Irrigated) and those nurseries have been distributed
to the breeding programs where they have been located under different growing
conditions and have varied yield potential. In order to address the varied request of the
breeding programs Supplemental Irrigation (SIR) has been extensively used in IWWIP
activities to select the genotypes perform better in both lower and higher yield potential
areas.
The experiment with 125 genotypes, including checks, was conducted in 6 different growing
conditions in 4 locations in 2008-2009 crop growing season; 2 locations without SIR
2 locations with SIR. The experimental design was RCBD with 3 reps. The total water
(precipitation plus SIR where applied) was from 290 mm 508 mm annually in locations.
The yield increased with increasing water availability. The mean trial yield varied between
1.07 to 7.52 t/ha. There were genotypes performed better in low yield conditions or high
yield conditions; there were also genotypes performed better than checks and remaining
genotypes in both conditions. As a result, SIR has been seen as an efficient technique to
select the genotypes that perform better in both conditions.
378