Grain protein and grain yield of durum wheats from south-eastern Anatolia, Turkey

High grain protein in durum wheat [Triticum turgidum ssp. turgidum L. conv. Durum (Desf.)] is one of the main goals of breeding programs. Landraces may be very useful germplasm for achieving this goal. To examine their potential as a source of high grain protein content, 11 genotypes, including 7 landraces, were evaluated in 8 environments. Environment, genotype, and the interaction of the two (G x E) significantly influenced the variation in grain yield, grain protein content, and grain protein yield. The environmental effect was the strongest, mostly due to differences in water supply. Grain yields of the modern genotypes were higher than those of landraces. Yields of the modern genotypes tended to respond more strongly to the higher yielding environments, but they varied more than the yields of landraces. With the exception of VK.85.18, the grain protein content of the high-yielding genotypes was almost as high as that of the best landraces. Moreover, grain protein content of these bred genotypes tended to respond more strongly to the higher protein environments. Differences in grain protein yield were closely related to the differences in grain yield. The results indicate that it is possible to improve grain protein content without grain yield being adversely affected. The results also indicate that potential gene sources should be compared over a number of environments before they can be used as breeding material or as crop varieties producing high grain protein yields

Evaluation of bread and einkorn wheat under in vitro drought stress

The purpose of this study was to investigate the resistance of bread and einkorn wheat genotypes under in vitro conditions against drought stress during germination. Twelve bread and ten einkorn wheat genotypes were used as plant material and seven drought stress levels were applied based on a three-replicate factorial restricted randomized block design in order to investigate their effects on germination rate (GR), germinating power (GP), coleoptile length (CL), shoot length (SL), root length (R L), shoot root length ratio (SRLR), root fresh weight (RFW), root dry weight (RDW), and root fresh dry weight ratio (RFDWR) during the year 2014 -2015. PEG-6000 was used to evaluate the effect of drought stress under in vitro conditions on the wheat genotypes. The values of all traits were decreased by the increased effect of PEG levels (p ? 0.05). The results of the variance analysis showed that the genotypes had significant statistical differences for the examined traits under drought stress (p < 0.05). According to the results of the GGE biplot analysis, of the total variation between the genotypes and traits investigated under drought stress (75.97%), PC1and PC2 represented 51.51% and 24.47%, respectively. In addition, einkorn wheat populations were located in the sector of GR, GP, and SRL, which means that these populations had a greater performance for these traits under drought stress conditions. Bread wheat and einkorn genotypes behaved differently for the traits under drought stress. It is considered that the results of the field and in vivo experiments for cold and drought stress will contribute to producing reliable suggestions. © 2017, Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum. All rights reserved

EVALUATION OF BREAD AND EINKORN WHEAT UNDER IN VITRO DROUGHT STRESS

WOS: 000417866700029The purpose of this study was to investigate the resistance of bread and einkorn wheat genotypes under in vitro conditions against drought stress during germination. Twelve bread and ten einkorn wheat genotypes were used as plant material and seven drought stress levels were applied based on a three-replicate factorial restricted randomized block design in order to investigate their effects on germination rate (GR), germinating power (GP), coleoptile length (CL), shoot length (SL), root length (RL), shoot root length ratio (SRLR), root fresh weight (RFW), root dry weight (RDW), and root fresh dry weight ratio (RFDWR) during the year 2014-2015. PEG - 6000 was used to evaluate the effect of drought stress under in vitro conditions on the wheat genotypes. The values of all traits were decreased by the increased effect of PEG levels (p = 0.05). The results of the variance analysis showed that the genotypes had significant statistical differences for the examined traits under drought stress (p < 0.05). According to the results of the GGE biplot analysis, of the total variation between the genotypes and traits investigated under drought stress (75.97%), PC1and PC2 represented 51.51% and 24.47%, respectively. In addition, einkorn wheat populations were located in the sector of GR, GP, and SRL, which means that these populations had a greater performance for these traits under drought stress conditions. Bread wheat and einkorn genotypes behaved differently for the traits under drought stress. It is considered that the results of the field and in vivo experiments for cold and drought stress will contribute to producing reliable suggestions

Mirza (Hacızade) Gökgöl (1897–1981): the great explorer of wheat genetic resources in Turkey

Mirza (Hacızade) Gökgöl (1897–1981) was a leading agro-ecological plant scientist, agronomist and breeder in Turkey. Gökgöl carried out extensive breeding programmes extensively selecting from local plant genetic resources from across Turkey from 1925 till the 1950s. He collected and evaluated cultivars, landraces and wild relatives, predominantly of wheat, but also of barley, lentil and other crops in Turkey during 1929–1955. He published books on wheat and other cereals, potatoes, castor bean, sweet clover, poppy, and other crops. He was a hardworking pioneer utilizing wheat genetic resources for crop improvement. Since his ample work has hardly been accessible by the English-speaking scientific community today, we are providing an overview of his major work, mainly on wheat. The books he published can still be found in libraries, although with difficulties. However, his articles, leaflets etc., are hardly accessible. Some of them are: Turkish Wheats, vols. 1 and 2, Plant Breeding through Scientific Methods (1928, translation of a book by E. Baur), The Basics of Wheat Breeding (1954), and Agriculture and Breeding of Cool Season Cereals–Wheat, Rye, Barley, and Oats (1969). In addition to the summary of his books, we reviewed his views and discussions about the centres of origin and diversity, and compared with those of Vavilov. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature