Wheat of both the tetraploid (Triticum durum Desf.) and hexaploid (Triticum aestivum L.), is the most important cereal crop in Ethiopia, ranking third in total production (17%) next to maize (Zea mays L.) and tef (CSA, 2002). Wheat covers a total arable land of 110,434 ha with average productivity of about 8.4 qt ha-1, which is below the national average (14.4 qt ha-1). A field experiment was c...

Puroindoline (Pina and Pinb) genes control grain texture or hardness in wheat. Wild-type/soft alleles lead to softer grain while a mutation in one or both of these genes results in a hard grain. Variation in hardness in genotypes with identical Pin alleles (wild-type or mutant) is known but the molecular basis of this is not known. We now report the identification of wheat genotypes with hard g...

Water deficit and increasing salinization reduce productivity of wheat, the leading crop for human diet. While the complete genome sequence of this crop has not been deciphered, a BAC library screening allowed the isolation of TdERF1, the first ethylene response factor gene from durum wheat. This gene is putatively involved in mediating salt stress tolerance and its characterization provides cl...

The collection of 10 parental lines of tetraploid wheat genotypes with various origin was cultivated in growth chamber. Leaf and growth traits such as assimilation pigments content, dry mass and leaf area of plants were measured. The genotype differences were recognized by chlorophyll a fluorescence fast kinetics method applied on penultimate young wheat leaves. Consequently, heat stress suscep...

Salt stress is one of the major constraints for wheat cultivation inIranand leads to a considerable loss in crop yield each year. In high salinity soils, the reduced osmotic potential of soil solutes may cause physiological drought. In this study the salt tolerance of different drought-tolerant bread wheat genotypes were studied by examining various agronomic and physiological traits, inclu...

Soft wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) quality tests (milling and baking quality) and starch characteristics (amylose concentration, X-ray diffractograms, thermal properties and pasting properties) were determined for eight granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS: waxy protein) genotypes in a soft wheat background. Lines carrying two null alleles showed reduced amylose concentrations relative to those o...

Wheat is an important dietary source of zinc (Zn) and other mineral elements in many countries. Dietary Zn deficiency is widespread, especially in developing countries, and breeding (genetic biofortification) through the HarvestPlus programme has recently started to deliver new wheat varieties to help alleviate this problem in South Asia. To better understand the potential of wheat to alleviate...

In this study Mixed structural covariance, Path and Cultivation Value analyses and the CERES-Wheat crop model were used to evaluate vegetation and yield component variation affecting yield potential between different highlatitude (> 60° N lat.) and mid-European (< 60° N lat.) spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes currently cultivated in southern Finland. Path modeling results from this ...