Earliness in wheat: A key to adaptation under terminal and continual high temperature stress in South Asia

High temperatures are a primary concern for wheat production in South Asia. A trial was conducted to evaluate the grain yield performance of high yielding, early maturing heat tolerant CIMMYT wheat lines, developed recently in Mexico for adaptation to high temperature stresses in South Asia. The trial, comprised of 28 entries and two checks, was grown in 13 locations across South Asia and two environments in Mexico. Each location was classified by mega environment (ME); ME1 being the temperate irrigated locations with terminal high temperature stress, and ME5 as warm, tropical, irrigated locations. Grain yield (GY), thousand kernel weight (TKW), days to heading (DH) and plant height (PH) were recorded at each location. Canopy temperature (CT) was also measured at…