Durum is more tolerent to drought.  Why? Seems to have a deeper root system than bread wheat.  On the biochemical level I do not know what is going on.

of course durum wheat is more resistant , may be the water activity affect

Durum wheat, which has genetic potentiality to tolerate drought stress.

 Thanks a lot,

But if you have any reference support that?

Regards

Durum wheat

Physiological and Biochemical Responses of Hexaploid and Tetraploid Wheat to Drought Stress   Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science

Volume 185, Issue 4, pages 219–227, December 2000

it depends whether you ask a durum wheat or a bread wheat breeder. Farmers in Syria believed that bread wheat was more drought tolerant

Here in Brazil farmers realised that is necessry less irrigation for barley than bread wheat.  We do not plant durun wheat.

Thanks for your contributions,  as I found in my studies on bread and durum that the later has better root and shoot system under stress induced by PEG in labs and also better seed development in field. but as we know that durum has less yield due to many reasons. Therefore, farmers sometimes insist on bread cultivars ......

All studied wheat species are divided into groups of resistance to drought. Researchers indicated a higher drought-resistant cutivars of common (bread) wheat compared to durum wheat.

The question is probably not too useful - it implies that there is an solute abintrinsic difference between bread and durum wheat which does not seem to have been established. The importance of root and  leaf size and characteristics, the rates of plant and grain development etc may out-weigh the bread - durum division. So some bread wheats may be better in drier environment than durums (see the earlier comments).  Some good comparative studies would seem to be necessary.

Dear Dr Fathi Omer,

I would like to thank you for your interesting question. During my Ph D study in Germany, I have screend different genotypes from different Genbanks for stem reserve mobilization as indication for pos-anthesis drought stress. I have found that most tolerant genotypes with high rates 80-90% or more comes from durum wheat. this trait indicates about the reserve carbohydrates during plant life.

So, I think the durum wheats have more tolerant than bread wheats

with best regards

Khaled

Durum wheat

Durum wheat cultivars are more drought tolerant than bread wheat

1) Wild relatives of wheat have higher drought tolerance than all cultivated species, but, still we do not use them for grain production.  

2) T. durum is closer to wheat progenitor - wild T. dicoccoides (emmer).  The  emmer gene pool offers a rich allelic repertoire of genes of drought resistance utilized for T. durum breeding (Nevo et al. 1984; Peleg et al. 2005, 2008). It is more probable to find genes for high drought tolerance  in allotetraploid T. durum than in allohexaploid T. aestivum.

3) Drought tolerance is complex trait often estimated under natural drought patterns, and include effects on plant at germination, emergence, development, pollination, yield formation. There is a chance that under most usual drought pattern T. aestivum will be more affected by water stress comparing to optimal conditions,  but still will give higher yield comparing to T. durum.

Drought tolerance is an adaptive traits related to survival whereas  breeder compromised these traits for better yield realisation. Bread wheat is of more recent origin and subsequentl intensive breeding has compromised these survival traits. Durum wheat is therefore has more drought tolerance than bread wheat.

 Drought tolerance is common used instead of resistance for abiotic stress in general.

Durum wheat is more drought tolerant than bread wheat due to the fact of its origin, evolution and domestication.

Dear Dr Fathi Omer,

I think that is an interesting question, which I analyzed in a published paper, I hope it is of your interest.

 “Bread and durum wheat yields under a wide range of environmental conditions” Field Crops Research,Volume 156, 1 February 2014, Pages 258–271.

Kind regards,

Jordi Marti.

The answer to this question is far from simple. It depends on the genotype of the plant, either durum (tetraploid) or breadwheat (hexaploid). Both ploidy groups share the A and B chromosomes which carry many genes common to these groups. Genes on the D genome chromosomes have homeologues on the A and/or B chromosomes. Genes capable of providing adaptation to water limited growth conditions are shared cross both ploidy groups. With learned breeding, these adaptational genes can be assembled in genotypes in both ploidy groups. I have worked on the genetic control of osmo-regulation (osmotic adjustment) in both durum and breadwheats. The gene that regulates the membrane permeability to potassium ions appears to be common to both ploidy groups. This or gene responds to water deficits in the plant, both temporary or permanent. Another trait that I have researched is salt tolerance in durum. Two genes (Nax1 and Nax2) that regulate the movement of sodium ions across cell membranes found in diploid wheat have been transferred to both tetraploid and hexaploid wheats.

I am sure that there are a number of similar water limited adaptational traits that are controlled by genes common to both ploidy groups. Some of the original durum genotypes may have been well adapted to water limited conditions but with breeding this situation could have changed significantly. Also the position with breadwheat could be much altered especially as breadwheats have attracted considerable breeding effort in many environments especially dry locations eg Australia.

Durum wheat is more drought tolerant than bread wheat due to its long adaptive mechanism compared to hexaploid wheat. Looking to domestication durum originated and was domesticated earlier to bread wheat.

Durum wheat is more drought tolerant than bread wheat due to its long adaptive mechanism compared to hexaploid wheat.

Reference:

Khayatnezhad, Majid et al. “Scrutiny of Hexaploid and Tetraploid (Triticum durum) Wheat's Genotypes to Some Physiological Responses in Drought Stress.” (2011).