Wheat landraces from Oman: A botanical analysis

The wheat landraces of Oman are chacterized. Their main constituents are Triticum aestivum L. ssp. aestivum, T. aestivum ssp. hadropyrum (Flaksb.) Tzvel., T. compactum Host, T. aethiopicum Jakubz.ssp. aethiopicum, T. aethiopicum ssp. vavilovianum Jakubz. et A. Filat. and T. dicoccon Schrank. The classification of the landraces was performed using the morphological method developed by Dorofeev, Filatenko et al. (1979), considering species, subspecies, convarieties and a great number of botanical varieties. Single landraces contained up to three different species ("Sareeaa") and up to 17 different botanical varieties ("Missani"). T. aethiopicum var. hajirense A. Filat. et K. Hammer is newly described. Keys for the determination of important Omani wheat races are proposed. 15 wheat landraces of Oman are characterized morphologically. A detailed list describing origin, local names, and infraspecific taxa of the material is provided. Transformation processes of the oasis settlements lead to a replacement of the traditional agricultural systems and the landraces are threatened by genetic erosion. Additional measures are necessary to increase the possibilities for on-farm conservation of the valuable material of landraces.