Wheat is a significant cereal crop that provides various food products with high nutritional value. Pakistan is one of the countries that suffers from severe water scarcity and it is worsening over time. For development of water deficit tolerance genotypes, it is crucial to assess the available germplasm for water deficit tolerance. A study was conducted to evaluate commercial wheat cultivars against osmotic stress. Eight wheat genotypes were evaluated under 0 MPa and -0.6 MPa by using PEG 6000 to induce osmotic stress at seedling stage. The results indicated that wheat cultivar Bhakkar star had high percentage of germination under water deficit conditions, root shoot ratio near 1 and  maintained relative water contents followed by Markaz-19.

Keywords: Wheat, Water deficit stress, Physio-morphic attributes, Assessment