AGRONOMICAL PERFORMANCE AND BREEDING VALUE OF SELECTED STRAINS OF DIPLOID WHEAT, TRITICUM-MONOCOCCUM

Twenty-one germplasm accessions and breeding lines of einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum and ssp. sinskajae) were grown at two sites in Italy and evaluated for various field and seed characteristics. Grain yields of germplasm accessions were relatively high (317-3238 kg/ha), but distinctly lower than those of four modern cultivars of tetraploid (T. turgidum ssp. durum) and hexaploid wheat (T aestivum ssp. aestivum) included in the experiments as controls. As expected, all Einkorns - including some substantially higher yielding crossbred lines (3415-4362 kg/ha) - were defective for one or more agronomically relevant features. However, a few of the accessions examined were found to contain, as a group, practically all the genes needed to breed monococcums having the main field attributes of a modern wheat cultivar: high yielding capacity, good threshability, large kernel size, earliness, short stature and adequate lodging resistance. Still higher yielding diploid wheats, more responsive to improved growing conditions and of better seed quality, could probably be obtained from crosses with wild monococcums bearing mostly two-seeded florets and with accessions producing less slender-shaped kernels. Some of the Einkorns examined were found to carry minor genes for easy threshing which might enhance the efficacy of the major gene for soft glumes carried by T monococcum ssp. sinskajae, a partially free-threshing diploid wheat taxon. Seed protein percentage of monococcums was markedly higher than that of durum and bread wheat cultivars even in those cases where their grain yields surpassed those of the polyploid checks. The possibilities offered by diploid wheat in the exploitation of novel endosperm mutants and F1 hybrid vigour, as well as in the fields of celiac disease, crop diversification and resistance to agro-biological stresses are discussed. Breeding priorities and strategies are also proposed.