Screening of Iran bread wheat germplasm for root traits and indices using discriminant function

Due to wheat cultivation in semi-arid regions of the world, much attention is paid to the production these days and introduction of cultivars that do not have a significant yield reduction during drought condition. The healthy and developed roots increase the efficiency of water and nutrients absorption that increase the yield. In this research, root length and number, total length of roots and shoot in embryo stage,  root fresh and dry weights, volume, length, shoot length and weight, number of leaves and tillers and also root traits like fineness, diameter, water content, root length, length density, specific mass, texture density, mass density, surface area and density indices in seedling were measured. Descriptive statistics of traits estimated and genotypes were classified into nine groups based on the root depth and texture density. Also, analysis of variance of different groups was estimated. Based on the results, 20 genotypes had dense and deep roots, the best indices for drought tolerance. Most traits, except embryonic stage traits, showed significant differences among genotypes. Discriminant function was performed and the amounts of functions were calculated for each group.