Drying wheat (Triticum durum) seeds attached to their spikes improved seed germination (desiccation tolerance), mean germination time, and seedling length at the milk stage of seed development compared with seed dried detached from spikes. The improvement of seed germination of spiked-dried seeds was associated with high accumulation of GABA metabolites, lower MDA content, higher expression of dehydrin genes (dhn, wcor, and dreb).