The contribution of the discovery of wild emmer to an understanding of wheat evolution and domestication and to wheat improvement

Wild emmer wheat, Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides. the progenitor of most domesticated wheats, was discovered by Aaron Aaronsohn in 1906 in the Levant. The contribution of this discovery to the study of the cytogenetic structure and evolution of the wheats, to an understanding of the processes and site of their domestication and evolution under cultivation, and to the improvement of domesticated wheat is discussed.