Multi-sensor phenotyping of yield and yield stability for genotype selection in durum wheat.

Developing climate-resilient wheat varieties requires combining high yield with stability across diverse environments, especially under increasingly variable precipitation and rising temperatures. This study evaluated 64 post-Green Revolution durum wheat cultivars under irrigated and rainfed conditions at two contrasting Mediterranean sites in Spain. A classification framework was developed to support genotype selection based on yield and yield stability, estimated using linear mixed models and yield slopes across environments. Genotypes were classified by interquartile thresholds, and those showing either low yield or low stability were considered undesirable for selection. High-throughput phenotyping was conducted throughout the season using ground-sensor Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and multispectral (MS) vegetation indices (VIs), along with UAV-derived RGB, MS, and thermal-infrared (TIR) data. VIs and TIR at anthesis and grain filling, and their differences (senescence proxies), were used to train Random Forests for yield and stability estimation including sequential feature selection. Environmental covariates (water input, reference evapotranspiration) were integrated in yield models, with strong outcomes (R