EVALUATION OF VARIATION IN TRITICUM-DICOCCUM FOR WHEAT IMPROVEMENT IN STRESS ENVIRONMENTS

A collection of accessions of cultivated emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccum, was evaluated for economically important traits at Tel Hadya in northern Syria. Useful variation among and within accessions was detected for agronomic traits, including a high number of productive tillers and protein content. The results from the disease screening nurseries indicated that T. dicoccum offers a good source of resistance to common bunt and yellow rust. Most of the accessions tested were, however, susceptible to late frost, which occurred in the second season. In the dry areas of West Asia and North Africa (WANA) available moisture in the soil is limited, and biotic and other abiotic stresses, such as terminal heat stress, reduce the grain yield to a considerable extent. The present study indicates that T. dicoccum has a large potential for use in improvement of durum wheat for WANA, where 80 % of the world's production of this crop is grown.