Cultivation of Barley Under Harsh Environmental Conditions in Kuwait

"The State of Kuwait is at the north-western corner of the Arabian Gulf. During the summer, the desert is extremely harsh with temperatures that can reach 44.7¡C, with dust storms, during a period where most annual plants become dormant. During the winter the air temperature is cool and pleasant and can drop to 8¡C [1]. Due to the harsh environment, Kuwait is facing many obstacles for barley production including aridity (water shortage, high temperature, high evaporation rate, low soil fertility), in addition to climate change. To overcome this situation Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) has undergone various studies for the adaptation of barley under stressful conditions, and those studies that were performed in KISR showed that barley can be produced under harsh environment. This crop has showed positive adaptation strategies to a warmer and drier environment that is being noticed to occur during the past years. Three studies were performed that included a study that was done by taking 332 lines of barley and were tested under Kuwait's environment resulting in 10 promising lines, another study was done by taking 141 lines of barley and were tested under similar condition resulting in 5 promising lines, On another hand a study with the collaboration with The Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) was performed, by studying 40 promising lines of barley focusing on planting time and stressful conditions resulting with a breed that tolerates drought and adapt to climatic change which indicated that the planting time of barley with the combination of stressful conditions of barley greatly effected. the yield production. This paper focus on five promising lines from the previous studies under two different irrigation regimes."