Estimating water use efficiency at early growth stages of Agropyron cristatum L. in hydroponic culture

The study was performed in order to estimate water use efficiency and to compare rate and speed of germination of Agropyron cristatum L. accession seeds in hydroponic culture. The seeds were planted under 25°c and %90 humidity conditions. An experiment was carried out with 4 replications in petri dish, each containing 25 seeds (totally 100 seeds per accession). Seedlings were located in unevaporating pots containing Hoagland nutrient solution. An aquarium air pump was used for aerating the seedling roots. Increased dry matter, consumed water and water use efficiency were recorded after one month. This part of experiment was carried out based on a completely randomized design with 3 replications. Recorded data were analyzed by one–way ANOVA method and means were classified by LSD method. Cluster analysis was performed on the data related to increased dry matter and water use efficiency. Results indicated that for the increased dry matter and water use efficiency, the accessions were significantly different. But no significant difference was observed for the consumed water. Means comparison showed that Mianeh and Arasbaran accessions had the highest measurements for water use efficiency. On the basis of cluster analysis, accessions were classified in 4 groups: 1. Mianeh and Arasbaran. 2. Almeh and Semirom. 3. Khoshyeylagh and Parvar. 4. Nebraska, Eskishir, Kurdistan and Veresk. Also, results of the rate and speed of the germination showed that the genotypes had significant differences for both of the traits. It can be concluded that the accessions of Mianeh and Arasbaran had higher water use efficiency.