Short communication. Collection and characterisation of a population of Triticum boeoticum Boiss., a wild wheat species not previously found in the Mediterranean western region

M Ruiz,J M Martinez Labarga,R Fite,M A Novillo

doi:10.5424/sjar/2012104-2781

Abstract

A population of wild wheat was collected in July 2010 in an abandoned area near Madrid, Spain. This zone possesses a high botanical biodiversity together to a particular type of soil termed “green clays”. A sample of wheat was collected, multiplied and characterised for several agro-morphological traits and glutenin subunits. The 2n chromosome number revealed that it was a diploid wheat species, and characterisation data indicated that the accession was Triticum boeoticum Boiss. This species probably arrived as a weed of the einkorn crop grown in the zone until at least the first half of s. XIX. The specific edaphic and climatic characteristics of the habitat and the fact that there were no references so far about this species in the Mediterranean western region make this acquisition very valuable for wheat improvement. The new accession is conserved at the National Plant Genetic Resources Centre and a herbarium sheet has been deposited in the Royal Botanic Garden in Madrid.

Highlights

Collecting a population of Triticum boeoticum Boiss
Some populations of diploid wild wheats have been found in the countries of the eastern Mediterranean as Greece, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey (Kimber & Feldman, 1987) but there is none reference for the western countries as Italy, France, Spain and Portugal
Since cultivated einkorn usually has one awn and one grain per spikelet (Fig. 1b), and weaker rachis hairiness and brittleness (Filatenko et al, 2002) these data point to the wild wheats T. urartu or T. boeoticum

Summary

Introduction

Collecting a population of Triticum boeoticum Boiss. Diploid wheats comprise three species: two wild, Triticum urartu Tum. and Triticum boeoticum Boiss., and the cultivated Triticum monococcum L. The objective of this work was to collect, identify and characterise a wild wheat recently found in Spain and not previously described.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion