Abstract
<p>To study their hybridization potential, two species of the genus <em>Aegilops</em> (<em>Aegilops geniculata </em>Roth; <em>Aegilops triuncialis</em> L.) and two durum wheat (<em>Triticum durum </em>Desf.) varieties (‘Oued Zenati’ and ‘Hoggar’) were crossed, where <em>Aegilops</em> was the female parent. The four cross combinations were tested during five years in order to release the genitors having the most affinity for obtaining interspecific hybrids. The parents were also characterized for their drought stress tolerance during the crossing period. The results confirm the tolerance of <em>Aegilops </em>sp. and adaptation of the durum wheat varieties to climatic conditions governing the Algerian cereal zones. 81 hybrids F1 were obtained. Differences in hybridization affinity between the parents were very remarkable. The combination of parents <em>Aegilops geniculata</em>/’ Oued Zenati’ has produced the highest number of hybrids (54 or a rate of 5.23 %), followed by <em>Aegilops triuncialis</em>/’Oued Zenati’ (18 hybrids or a rate of 3.88 %). The crossing of the two <em>Aegilops</em> species with the Hoggar variety produced a small number of hybrids. Among the advantages of this crossing, the obtaining of hybrids in caryopsis without resorting to the embryos rescue. Hybrid seedlings expressed a maternal cytoplasmic heredity. However, no adult plant could have been regenerated.</p>
Highlights
The cultivation of durum wheat in Algeria represents an economic and social importance (Attab & Brinis, 2012; Chahbar & Belkodja, 2016)
Tolerance to water stress was evaluated for two Aegilops species and two durum wheat varieties
We have focused on the cross-ability of the O.Z variety, widely used and adapted to the Mediterranean stress type, with the Ae.gen and Ae.tri species, and the quality of hybrids obtained in the Aegilops /durum wheat direction
Summary
The cultivation of durum wheat in Algeria represents an economic and social importance (Attab & Brinis, 2012; Chahbar & Belkodja, 2016). Addition or substitution lines were developed from interspecific hybrids between wheat and Aegilops species (Schneider et al, 2005) allowing the successful introgression of many genes with disease resistance from Aegilops species (Schneider et al, 2008; Mujeeb-Kazi et al., 2013). Many studies report the natural occurrence of interspecific hybrids between wheat and Aegilops species which are considered as the female parent (Morrison, et al, 2002; Cifuentes et al, 2006). These works intended to study the incorporation of transgenes into Aegilops species from cultivated wheat varieties. As this study is a part of wheat breeding program to drought tolerance, by wild species as Aegilops, the genitors were characterized for their tolerance to water stress during the crossing period
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