PERFORMANCE OF SEVERAL WHEAT CULTIVARS UNDER CONTRASTING CONDITIONS OF WATER STRESS, IN CENTRAL PART OF OLTENIA

Seventy six wheat cultivars of different origin were compared In yield trials at ARDS Slmnlc during 2005-2007, and data from two contrasting years, 2005 - with high rainfall and 2007 - with drought conditions were used to calculate several stress response Indices and to analyze the cultivar response to drought. Yields in the normal year were not correlated with yields in the stress year, but several cultivars with good performance under both conditions were Identified. Best performers under both stress (yields over 3 tons/ha) and non-stress conditions (yields over 6 tons/ha) were Romanian cultivars Alex, Glosa, Romulus and Crina, and the Introduced cultivar Orion. Better stress susceptibility Index (SSI) and stress tolerance Index (TOL) was associated with low yield under normal conditions, and therefore these Indices could not Identity cultivars with good performance In both stress and non-stress years. Stress tolerance Index (STI) gave Identical cultivar classification with the geometric mean (GMP), both being better than SSI or TOL in identifying top yielders In contrasting water availability conditions. However, they were not better than the arithmetic average yield. A simple practical way to select for best performance in contrasting conditions is the analysis of the two-way distribution of cultivars, according to their yield In the respective conditions.