In the present study, 150 accessions of worldwide originated durum wheat germplasm (Triticum turgidum spp. durum) were observed for major seedling traits and their growth. The accessions were evaluated for major seedling traits under controlled conditions of hydroponics at the 13th, 20th, 27th and 34th day-after germination. Biomass traits were measured at the 34th day-after germination. Correl...

Parental lines, namely: F1, F2, BC1, BC2, BC11, BC12, BC21, BC22, BC1 selfed, and BC2 selfed generations of three crosses involving six cultivars of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) were studied for awn length under normaland late-sown environments to analyze the nature of gene effects and components of heterosis (over the better parent). A sixparameter model in the cross Cocorit 71 x A-9-30-...

Domestication of plants and animals is the major factor underlying human civilization. Cultivated wheats refer mainly to two types: the hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) accounting for about 95% of world wheat production, and the tetraploid durum wheat (T. durum) accounting for the other 5%. T. aestivum derived from a cross between domesticated emmer T. dicoccum and the goat grass Aegil...

Sub-soil (> 30 cm) salinity and sodicity is a growing problem particularly in irrigated agricultural areas with rising water tables, poor water quality and/or deficient soil drainage. There were two objectives in this study; (1) to quantify the effect of sub-soil salinity and sodicity in grain yield of triticale, bread wheat and durum wheat and, (2) to determine if genotypes within and between ...

The Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) Ug99 race group is virulent to most stem rust resistance genes currently deployed in wheat and poses a threat to global wheat production. The durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum) gene Sr13 confers resistance to Ug99 and other virulent races, and is more effective at high temperatures. Using map-based cloning, we delimited a candidate region inclu...

Homoeologous metaphase I (MI) associations in hybrids between durum wheat and its wild allotetraploid relatives Aegilops neglecta, Ae. triuncialis and Ae. ventricosa have been characterized by a genomic in situ hybridization procedure that allows simultaneous discrimination of A, B and wild species genomes. Earlier results in equivalent hybrids with the wild species Ae. cylindrica and Ae. genic...

BACKGROUND Traditional agrosystems are the places were crop species have evolved and continue to evolve under a combination of human and environmental pressures. A better knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the dynamics of crop diversity in these agrosystems is crucial to sustain food security and farmers' self-reliance. It requires as a first step, anchoring a description of the available d...

The expansion of the world's population requires the development of high production agriculture. For this purpose, it is essential to identify target points conditioning crop responsiveness to predicted [CO2]. The aim of this study was to determine the relevance of ear sink strength in leaf protein and metabolomic profiles and its implications in photosynthetic activity and yield of durum wheat...

The process of domestication has led to dramatic morphological and physiological changes in crop species due to adaptation to cultivation and to the needs of farmers. To investigate the phenotypic architecture of shoot- and root-related traits and quantify the impact of primary and secondary domestication, we examined a collection of 36 wheat genotypes under optimal and nitrogen-starvation cond...