Table 1. Summary of key traits derived or measured and their abbreviations and units.

Trait	Abbreviations	Unit	Relative value Abbreviations
(1) Dry mass
Total plant dry mass	DM	g plant-1		rDM
Total ears dry mass	DME	g plant-1		rDMEt
Dry mass of the tiller’s ears	DMEt	g plant-1		DMEt
Dry mass ear of the main stem	DMEms	g plant-1		rDMEms
Total dry mass of green leaves	DMLG	g plant-1		rDMLG
Dry mass green leaves of the main stem	DMLGms	g plant-1		rDMLGms
Dry mass green leaves of tillers	DMLGt	g plant-1		rDMLGt
Dry mass of senescent leaves of the main stem	DMLSms	g plant-1		rDMSLms
Dry mass of senescent leaves of the tillers	DMLSt	g plant-1		rDMLSt
Total dry mass of the stems	DMS	g plant-1		rDMS
Dry mass of the stem on the main stem	DMSms	g plant-1		rDMSms
Dry mass of the stems on tillers	DMSt	g plant-1		rDMSt
(2) Counts
Number of green leaves	NLG			rNLG
Number of tillers	Nt			rNt
Number of tiller ears	NEt			rNEt
(3) Morphological traits
Total leaf area	LA	cm2 plant-1		rLA
Leaf area of green leaves of tillers	LAt	cm2 plant-1		rLALGt
Leaf area of green leaves of the main stem	LAms	cm2 plant-1		rLALGms
Leaf area of the flag leaf of the main stem	LAFms			rLAFms
Length of the main stem	Lms	cm plant-1		rLms
Average length of the stems of tillers	Lt	cm plant-1		rLt
Length of the flag leaf of the main stem	LFms	cm plant-1		rLFms
Specific leaf area of the whole plant	SLA	cm2 g-1		rSLA
Specific leaf area of tillers	SLAt	cm2 g-1		rSLAt
Specific leaf area of the main stem	SLAms	cm2 g-1		rSLAms
(4) Physiological traits
Proline content	PROL	μmol g-1		rPROL
Osmotic potential	OP	Mpa		rOP
Relative leaf water content	RWC	%		rRWC
Transpiration efficiency	TE	g l-1		rTE
Harvest index	HI	g g-1		rHI
Total transpired water	T	l		rT
Percentage of water extracted by the plants in the water deficit treatment	Wex	%
Specific transpiration	ST	l m-2 plant-1		rST
Phenological development stages (0–100)	BBCH			rBBCH