Abstract

The chromosome numbers of a total of 273 Dasypyrumbreviaristatum plants sampled from 20 Moroccan and one Greek naturalpopulations were examined. 270 plants from all of the populations weretetraploids. Among them, 223 were eu-tetraploids with 28 chromosomes and 47 wereaneuploids with 25, 27 and 29 chromosomes. Besides, three plants were found tobe diploids among 16 plants from a population in the Moyen Atlas Mountains ofMorocco. This is the second report of a diploid cytotype ofD. breviaristatum since the firstcommunication in 1957. Morphologically, the diploids were similar to but smallerthan the tetraploids in plant height, spike length, spikelet number and leafepidermis cell size. However, it was not possible to distinguish between the twocytotypes based on those morphological characteristics alone. A distinctdifference was found between the two cytotypes only in the number of trichomeson the leaf surfaces. The karyotype of the diploid cytotype consisted of a pairof SAT-chromosomes, five pairs of metacentric and a pair of submetacentricchromosomes. Based on the similarity in karyotype and in plant morphologybetween the two cytotypes of D.breviaristatum, we suggest that the diploid cytotype is themost probable candidate for the ancestral form of the tetraploid cytotype.

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