Effect of Water Deficit and Soil Nitrogen on Dry Matter and Nitrogen Accumulation and Mobilization in Durum Wheat under Semi-Arid Environment

The effects of water deficit and nitrogen (n) application were evaluated on dry matter (dm) and n remobilization in eight durum wheat varieties. cham5, cham3, om quis, kayar tunis and hourani nawawi had the highest dm remobilization under wetter environment ranging from 16.7 to 16.8%, rising to 20.7 to 23.7% in the drier environment. cham 5 and cham 3 also showed higher n translocation to grains (values=67.3 and 72.9%) under drier conditions. n deficiency significantly (p<0.05) increased n remobilization to grain in deir alla 6 and hourani nawawi; increasing n rate from 0 to 200 kg urea ha^-1 decreased n remobilization from 40.8 to 20.8% and from 40.3 to 32.3% in deir alla 6 and hourani nawawi, respectively. in conclusion, some varieties showed high capacity for dm and n translocation under unfavorable conditions and they could be considered as a potential source of genes for plant breeding.