Average air temperature was about 26 8C between
seeding and tillering and increased slightly from about
26 to 31 8C during the stress period. Pan evaporation
was rather small until the beginning of the stress
period, but increased gradually until the end of the
stress period.Because of high air temperature and high
evaporation and with no lateral water movement from
adjacent areas, drought stress developed rapidly and
plants started to show symptoms of water deficit by
rolling their leaves at about 54 DAS (8 DAW).