Screening of Wheat Varieties for Thermotolerance Against Heat Stress

Alterations in the global climate are predicted to have vital penalty for crop production. Heat stress is a major abiotic stress limiting crop production. It reduces wheat growth by affecting various physiological and biochemical processes The present study was focused on to check the EC, heat shock protein, proline and sugar, chlorophyll content at seedling, tillering and spikelet formation stages of wheat. Selected local wheat varieties were grown in Petri plates and at seedling stage these were transferred to the pots containing soil, sand and animal manure in equal proportion. Electrical conductivity (EC) was determined to check cell membrane stability (CMS) which was greatly affected by heat stress. Protein, proline, amino acids contents showed an increase in their content while sugar, chlorophyll content exhibited a decrease under stress conditions.