Abstract
Hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ssp. aestivum) is assumed to have originated by natural hybridization between cultivated tetraploid Triticum turgidum L. and wild diploid Aegilops tauschii Coss. This scenario is broadly accepted, but very little is known about the ecological aspects of bread wheat evolution. In this study, we examined whether T. turgidum cultivation still is associated with weedy Ae. tauschii in today’s Middle Eastern agroecosystems. We surveyed current distributions of T. turgidum and Ae. tauschii in northern Iran and searched for sites where these two species coexist. Ae. tauschii occurred widely in the study area, whereas cultivated T. turgidum had a narrow distribution range. Traditional durum wheat (T. turgidum ssp. durum (Desf.) Husn.) cultivation associated with weedy Ae. tauschii was observed in the Alamut and Deylaman-Barrehsar districts of the central Alborz Mountain region. The results of our field survey showed that the T. turgidum–Ae. tauschii association hypothesized in the theory of bread wheat evolution still exists in the area where bread wheat probably evolved.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to our colleague agronomists for support during field travels, and Y. Kihara and T. Sasakuma for making available H. Kihara’s unpublished field notebooks. We thank the local farmers who shared their knowledge. This work was supported by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 15255012)).
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Matsuoka, Y., Jaffar Aghaei, M., Abbasi, M.R. et al. Durum wheat cultivation associated with Aegilops tauschii in northern Iran. Genet Resour Crop Evol 55, 861–868 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-007-9290-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-007-9290-x