Drought is a wide-spread problem seriously influencing wheat production, but the development of drought resistant cultivars is hampered by lack of effective physiological characteristic selection criteria. This study was carried out to evaluate response of proline, lipid peroxidation, cell membrane stability and antioxidative enzymes in wheat landraces under drought stress. Twelve wheat landraces were grown in irrigated and rain fed conditions during three successive growing seasons (2007–2008 to 2009–2010). Results showed that, proline content, cell membrane injury (CMI), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities and lipid peroxidation of flag leaf increased in all wheat landraces in response to drought stress. The results revealed that PPO and SOD activities were negatively correlated with both malondialdehyde concentration (MDA) and cell membrane injury. PPO activity and MDA concentration were significantly correlated with stress susceptibility index (SSI) values of 12 wheat landraces. Thus, it can be inferred that, antioxidant activities are able to discriminate wheat landraces under drought stress conditions.
