Phenotypic divergence for morphological and yield-related traits among landrace genotypes of durum wheat from Jordan

Summary

Landrace genotypes of durum wheat, from 10 districts in Jordan, have been evaluated for 18 morphological and yield related traits. Results of multivariate analysis, including analysis of variance, cluster analysis and canonical discriminant analysis, indicate that the magnitude of phenotypic divergence in these landrace genotypes is large, especially when compared with a world collection of durum wheat. These results provide an experimental evidence for phenotypic differentiation as a result of variation in altitude and long-term average rainfall of collection sites, but not on the basis of district of collection. R²-values for fit to least squares model ranged from 67.0–78.0%, and from 18.5–30.0%, for the first and second cases, respectively. Landrace genotypes from different districts formed 5 clusters on the basis of altitude and long-term average rainfall of collection site. Three canonical factors accounted for 92% of total variance in these clusters. The first canonical factor accounted for 57% of total variance and was mainly correlated with spike length, awn length and spikelets/spike. The second canonical factor accounted for 22% of total variance and was positively correlated with peduncle length, seed weight per plant, kernel weight and ratio of peduncle length to plant height. However, it was negatively correlated with awn length. The phenotypic diversity found in these landrace genotypes could help identify genetically different genotypes for durum wheat improvement.