Morphological Features, Yield Components and Genetic Relatedness of Some Wheat Genotypes Grown in Palestine

Abstract

The objectives of the present study were to study the morphological characteristics, yield components, chemical compositions and genetic relatedness of six wheat Triticum spp genotypes frequently grown under rain-fed conditions at the southern highland of West-Bank, Palestine. Three local genotypes commonly known as Black-Depia, White-Depia, and White-Hetia, and three introduced ones namely Ambar, Sham-3, and Sham-5, were allocated at three different agro-ecological conditions namely Al-Arroub, Dora, and Janata using completely randomized block design, with five replications (net plot size of 25 m 2 areas per replicate). The results showed significant variations among the six wheat genotypes almost for all measured parameters (maturation and harvesting date, stem length, tillering, number of grains per spike, average spike weight, spike length, spike length with awns, weight of 100 seeds per genotypes, and total yields). Generally, local wheat genotypes presented better yield than the introduced ones. Black-Depia genotype showed the highest yield (grain plus hay) among the three examined sites therefore, it could be a promising cultivar for any further breeding program especially for drought tolerance; however, the lowest yields were obtained in Sham-5 and Sham-3 at Janata site, respectively. Regarding wheat quality parameters, no significant variations were observed for any conducted analyses, however, there were trends for higher protein contents in Sham-5 and White-Hetia genotypes. UPGMA dendrogram clustered the examined six wheat genotypes into two main clusters related to Black-Depia as an isolated genotype. The first cluster is composed of “Sham-5, White-Hetia and Sham-3 genotypes; and the second cluster consisted of White-Depia and Amber genotypes.