GRAIN-YIELD AND QUALITY OF DURUM-WHEAT LANDRACES IN A DRY MEDITERRANEAN REGION OF NORTHERN SYRIA

Twenty-two durum wheat landraces of various origins were evaluated for performance and stability of grain yield, protein content and gluten strength (SDS sedimentation volume) at two sites of Northern Syria situated in the drought-prone part of the local durum wheat belt. Yield was recorded in three seasons, while protein content and SDS volume were assessed in two seasons only. A high ''entry x environment'' interaction was observed for all traits, which was significantly attributable to heterogeneity of entry regressions on the environmental mean for grain yield only. Compared to the recently-bred, widely-grown variety 'Sham 1', some landraces showed somewhat similar yield responses, whereas others proved more stable without being significantly lower yielding. Significant variation was found for SDS volume, though only few of the best-ranking landraces for this trait also possessed an acceptable yield level. The entries did not significantly differ for protein content. The broad sense heritability estimates obtained for grain yield (0.59) and SDS volume (0.89) highlighted the interest in some of the landraces examined for improving grain yield and quality in the region.