Variation for carbon isotope ratio in a set of emmer (Triticum dicoccum Schrank) and bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) accessions

Abstract

A high level of drought tolerance is an important objective in breeding new generation wheat varieties. A group of six landraces of the emmer wheat (Triticum diccocum Schrank), as well as two landraces, two old cultivars and two modern varieties of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were evaluated for their ability to discriminate ¹³C, a trait related to stomatal closure and consequently, an important component tolerance to drought. Three emmer wheat landraces and one of the bread wheat landraces has the lowest. Therefore, emmer wheat may play the role of a donor of the tolerance to drought in wheat breeding programs targetting drought prone conditions.

Key words: Emmer wheat, bread wheat, drought tolerance, carbon isotope ratio, discrimination.