Abstract
A field experiment was conducted during the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 agricultural seasons at the Field Crops Research Unit, Research Station of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tripoli, with the aim of identify the important selection criteria of yield under rain-fed conditions for a set of genotypes derived from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). In this experiment, eight genotypes were used and they were compared to the standard durum wheat variety “Karim”. Results showed significant differences in yield (grain weight per square meter) between the two seasons, where the average yield in the first season was 235g per square meter, which is almost double of the yield achieved in the second season, which did not exceed 110g per square meter. In addition, the genotypes differed from each significantly in yield as an average of the two seasons. The only yield component in which the genotypes showed significant interaction with the agricultural seasons was the thousand grains weight. This significant relationship was most evident in the two lines ICARDA-13 and ICARDA-23, which produced the highest weight per thousand grains (57.6 and 58.7 grams) respectively during the first season. On the other hand, there was not any significant differences amongst genotypes in the weight of one thousand grains ‘if the ICARDA-18 line was excluded in which its weight of the grain decreased significantly’ when exposed to drought in the second season. The superiority of ICARDA-13 and ICARDA-23 in one of the most important quality traits, that is the grain weight, and not statistically different from the check variety in yield, gives them preference comparing with the check. High biological weight is the most physiological component explaining yield, which is also associated with increasing the grain weight. This is one of the valuable selection criteria and an important indicator in plant breeding programs to increase yield even while maintaining current harvest indices.