Abstract
The Near East climate ranges from arid to a Mediterranean, under which local wheat landraces have been grown for over millennia, assumingly accumulating a unique repertoire of genetic adaptations. In the current study, we subjected a subset of the Israeli Palestinian Landraces (IPLR) collection (n = 19: durum and bread wheat landraces, modern wheat cultivars, and landraces mixtures) to full-field evaluation. The multifield experiment included a semiarid site (2018–2019, 2019–2020) under low (L) and high (H) supplementary irrigation, and a Mediterranean site (2019–2020). Water availability had a major impact on crop performance. This was reflected in a strong discrimination between environments for biomass productivity and yield components. Compared to landraces, modern cultivars exhibited significantly higher grain yield (GY) across environments (+102%) reflecting the effect of the Green Revolution. However, under the Gilat19 (L) environment, this productivity gap was significantly reduced (only +39%). Five excelling landraces and the durum mix exhibited good agronomic potential across all trails. This was expressed in relatively high GY (2.3–2.85 t ha−1), early phenology (86–96 days to heading) and lodging resistance. Given the growing interest of stakeholders and consumers, these might be considered future candidates for the local artisanal wheat grain market. Yet, this step should be taken only after establishing an adjustable field management protocol.
Highlights
Wheat is a staple cereal crop that is cultivated on more than 200 million hectares worldwide in a wide range of farmland environments [1]
The Near East climate ranges from arid (500 mm annual rainfall), under which wheat yield is limited by both rainfall and hot temperatures
Discrimination was evident based on growing environment: in 2018–2019, this clear separation was mainly driven by additional supplementary irrigation (∆105 mm of additional irrigation in the high (H) compared to the low (L) water treatments) and is evident both across landraces and modern cultivar groups
Summary
Wheat is a staple cereal crop that is cultivated on more than 200 million hectares worldwide in a wide range of farmland environments [1]. The warming and aridification in the Near and Middle East associated with climate change may have consequences for agriculture through meteorological conditions that influence crop growth and yield [16]. We examined the field performance of a representative subset of landraces from the IPLR collection in comparison to modern cultivars. Those were tested under different environments with distinct levels of water supply. The specific goals of the current study were to perform a comparative agronomical multisite field study of a diverse panel of durum and bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) landraces vs modern hard spring semi-dwarf cultivars, and to examine the feasibility of cultivating landraces for the local market
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