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The aim of this study was to compare agro-phenological and technological traits in advanced durum wheat lines differing in responses to Hessian fly larval attacks. A field experiment was carried out during the 2014/2015 cropping season at the main research stations of Marchouch and Tassaoute in a randomized completed block design. Twenty-two durum wheat genotypes comprising twenty advanced lines from the INRA breeding program and two commercial varieties were used in this study. Agro-phenological and grain quality determinations were concerned with plant height, grain yield, days to heading, protein content, wet gluten content, gluten strength, and yellow pigment content. The analysis of variance revealed significant environment, genotype, and genotype-by-environment (G × E) effects for the majority of the measured traits. A high level of heritability was also observed for grain yield (94.9%), followed by gluten strength (90.7%), yellow pigment content (79.3%), wet gluten content (77.79%), plant height (71.5), and protein content (70.02%); moderate levels of heritability were recorded for days to heading (65.8%). The data for Hessian fly resistance in both the field and infested greenhouse demonstrated three distinct group of genotypes: "resistant" with 4 genotypes, "susceptible without field escape to Hessian fly attack" with 16 genotypes, and "susceptible with field escape to Hessian fly attack" with 2 genotypes. The ANOVA analysis indicated the existence of significant differences between groups of genotypes for grain yield, days to heading, protein content, yellow pigment content, and gluten strength at the Tassaoute station, while at the Marchouch site, the differences were significant only for plant height and gluten strength. Protein content and wet gluten content revealed highly significant positive correlations, indicating the possibility of effective selection of the two traits simultaneously. Biplot analysis indicated that the first two Principal Components (PCs) accounted for 56.04% and 56.34% of the relationships between the genotypes and all of the attributes at the Marchouch and Tassaoute sites, respectively. The results of principal component analysis and Cluster based on agro-phenological and grain quality traits categorized the genotypes into three separate groups for the Marchouch site and four groups for the Tassaoute site. Individuals within each group are characterized by well-defined precocity, productivity, and technological criteria. The different behaviors of the lines studied in the present work are of great interest and can be exploited in breeding programs in order to improve agro-phenological and technological traits in durum wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mediterranean area, water deficit is the main factor limiting agricultural production. Durum wheat yield is greatly hampered by drought in the Mediterranean semi-arid areas. The duration and the rate of grain filling and the contribution of stem assimilates are likely to have important effects on yield performance under stress conditions. The objective of this study is to evaluate differences in durations and rates of grain filling and the contribution assimilates from the stem to the yield of 10 durum wheat genotypes (Triticum durum Desf.). Water stress was induced in booting stage by stopping irrigation, the differences of duration and rates of grain filling and the contribution of the assimilates of the stems to grain yield were determined. Genotypes' agronomic performances were estimated by measuring yield components: number of grains per ear (NGE), weight of one grain (P1G) and weight of 1000 grains (PMG). The results showed a significant effect of water stress, genotypes and of the interaction between genotype x water stress. A positive correlation between agronomic performance and the two key variables for the final grain weight: the rate and duration of grain filling was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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