Stress-induced deeper rooting introgression enhances wheat yield under terminal drought.

The article focuses on the use of wild emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides) alleles to enhance root architecture and improve drought adaptability in durum wheat under terminal drought (TD) conditions. By employing electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), a non-destructive active sensing method, the study demonstrated that an introgression line (IL20) carrying wild emmer alleles exhibits deeper root growth and greater water uptake from subsoil layers compared to the drought-sensitive cultivar Svevo. This deeper rooting supports higher stomatal conductance, photosynthetic capacity, and ultimately increased grain yield under drought stress, without altering flowering time or kernel weight. The findings suggest that reintroducing ancestral root traits from wild progenitors can be a valuable breeding strategy to improve wheat resilience and productivity amid climate-induced water scarcity.