Evaluating the Utility of Carbon Isotope Discrimination for Wheat Breeding in the Pacific Northwest

Many wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) production regions are threatened annually by drought stress. Carbon isotope discrimination ( Δ ) has been identified as a potentially useful trait in breeding for improved drought tolerance in certain environments. Broad use of Δ as a selection criterion is limited, however, mainly due to an inconsistent relationship observed between grain yield and Δ and, to a lesser extent, because of the high resource...