Evaluation of Agro-Morphological Diversity in Wild Relatives of Wheat Collected in Iran
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J. Agr. Sci. Tech. (2017) Vol. 19: 943-956 Evaluation of Agro-Morphological Diversity in Wild Relatives of Wheat Collected in Iran A. Pour-Aboughadareh1*, J. Ahmadi1, A. A. Mehrabi2, M. Moghaddam3, and A. Etminan4 ABSTRACT In this study, a core collection of 180 Aegilops and Triticum accessions belonging to six diploid (T. boeoticum Bioss., T. urartu Gandilyan., Ae. speltoides Tausch., Ae. tauschii Coss., Ae. caudata L. and Ae. umbellulata Zhuk.), five tetraploid (T. durum, Ae. neglecta Req. ex Bertol., Ae. cylindrica Host. and Ae. crassa Boiss) and one hexaploid (T. aestivum L.) species collected from different regions of Iran were evaluated using 20 agro- morphological characters. Statistical analysis showed significant differences among accessions. The Shannon-Weaver (HʹSW) and Nei’s (HʹN) genetic diversity indices disclosed intermediate to high diversity for most characters in both Aegilops and Triticum core sets. In factor analysis, the first five components justified 82.17% of the total of agro- morphological variation. Based on measured characters, the 180 accessions were separated into two major groups by cluster analysis. Furthermore, based on the 2D-plot generated using two discriminant functions, different species were separated into six groups, so that distribution of species accorded with their genome construction. Overall, our results revealed considerable levels of genetic diversity among studied Iranian Aegilops and Triticum accessions, which can open up new avenues for rethinking the connections between wild relatives to explore valuable agronomic traits for the improvement and adaptation of wheat. Keywords: Aegilops, Multivariate analysis, Phenotypic diversity, Triticum. INTRODUCTION traits, such as disease- or pest-resistance and even yield improvement. CWR have a long In the recent years, demand for new initial history of use in wheat breeding, materials has greatly increased due to predominantly for pest and disease approaching the limits of biological resistance (Dhaliwal et al., 2002; Zaharieva Downloaded from jast.modares.ac.ir at 15:28 IRST on Wednesday September 29th 2021 productivity of wheat. Genetic resources et al., 2003; Schneider et al., 2008; provide opportunities for plant breeders to Hovhannisyan et al., 2011; Petersen et al., create novel plant with suitable gene 2015), and are expected to be increasingly combinations that better matched the used in the search for tolerance to biotic and conditions of diverse agricultural systems abiotic stresses (Trethowan and Mujeeb- (Glaszmann et al., 2010). Crop Wild Kazi, 2007; Ali et al., 2013; Kiani et al., Relatives (CWR) are species closely related 2015; Masoomi-Aladizgeh et al., 2015; to crop plants and can contribute useful Pour-Aboughadareh et al., 2017a). _____________________________________________________________________________ 1 Department of Crop Production and Breeding, Imam Khomeini International University, P. O. Box:. 34149- 16818, Qazvin, Islamic Republic of Iran. *Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected] 2 Department of Agronomy and Plant breeding, University of Ilam, Ilam, Islamic Republic of Iran. 3 Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran. 4 Department of Plant Breeding, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran. 943 ____________________________________________________________ Pour-Aboughadareh et al. The genus Aegilops L. and Triticum Kiani et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2015; belong to the tribe Triticeae within the Alsaleh et al., 2016). In the study conducted Pooideae subfamily of the grass family by Ehdaie and Waines (1989), moderate to Poaceae. These genera are important wheat high heritability estimates for phenological gene pool, because they are evolutionarily and agro-morphological characters in core related to the major agricultural crop T. collection of native wheat landraces aestivum L. Kimber and Feldman (1987) and collected in southwestern Iran were van Slageren (1994) described 22 Aegilops reported. In another study, Moghaddam et and five Triticum species, including diploid al. (1997) reported great values of (2n= 2x= 14), tetraploid (2n= 4x= 28) and phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of hexaploid species, among which diploid variability as well as genetic advance for species with useful characters are of number of tillers, number of spikes, 1000- potential use in wheat breeding (Appels and seed weight and grain yield per plant of Lagudah, 1990). Wild relatives of common Iranian wheat landraces, indicating that wheat have been widely distributed in the selection for these characters might be Middle and Near East. Iran, with a total land effective for wheat improvement. Zaharieva area of 1,648,000 square kilometers, lies et al. (2003), analyzing several populations between 25° and 39° N latitude and 44° and of Ae. geniculate, Ae. neglecta and Ae. 63° E longitude and is primarily temperate cylindrica sampled in Bulgaria, indicated in the northern half part, subtropical in the significant differences between populations southern half and mostly desert in the for most of the morphological characters. middle. The resultant variability in climate Arzani et al. (2005) evaluated diversity in and environment has made an extensive wild relatives of wheat collected from diversity of plant germplasm. In the Fertile different eco-geographical regions of Iran Crescent, Iran is known as one of the and indicated considerable variation among primary centers of distribution of wild species for qualitative characters along with relatives of wheat, so that compositions of significant differences for inter and Aegilops and Triticum species, as the richest intraspecific variation for the measured wheat gene pool, have been found in this characters. country. The conditions of the origins of Description and identification of the wild relatives of common wheat in different genetic diversity available in wheat parts of Iran, especially northwest, west and germplasm are the basis of improved plans southwest regions (east of the Fertile designed to control genetic erosion; they are Crescent), also suggest these areas are one also an initial requirement for the utilization Downloaded from jast.modares.ac.ir at 15:28 IRST on Wednesday September 29th 2021 of the ideal regions for discovering suitable of useful characters in plant breeding. genes to be transferred into cultivated Although several studies using protein and modern wheat (Zohary and Hopf, 2000). molecular markers have shown a high level The botanical and agro-morphological of genetic diversity in Iranian wheat characters are the first and easiest criteria for germplasm (Moghaddam et al., 2000; the assessment of genetic diversity in natural Dudnikov and Kawahara, 2006; Naghavi et populations and useful as a guide to follow al., 2007; Naghavi et al., 2009b; up characterization and evaluation studies. Tahernezhad et al., 2010; Ehtemam et al., Many studies showed that agro- 2010; Moradkhani et al., 2012; Mousavifard morphological characteristics are very useful et al., 2015), no systematic work has been in identification and evaluation of genetic undertaken until now to collect, describe, diversity in wild wheat germplasm as well as and evaluate native Aegilops and Triticum having the advantage of providing direct germplasm in Iran. To increase the tools in the field for assessing plant usefulness of exploitation of wild relatives performance and select suitable varieties for wheat improvement, the morphological (Salimi et al., 2005; Naghavi et al., 2009a; characterization is required. Therefore, a 944 Phenotypic Diversity in Wild Relatives of Wheat __________________________________ survey of the genetic diversity is necessary northeast to south and southwest of Iran to management of breeding programs (Figure 1). The evaluated accessions in this involving the native wheat germplasm. The study consisted of: Six diploid- T. boeoticum current work was undertaken in order to Bioss. (Ab genome), T. urartu Gandilyan. assess the agro-morphological diversity in (Au genome), Ae. speltoides Tausch. (S core collection of wild relatives of wheat genome), Ae. tauschii Coss. (D genome), Ae. collected in different eco-geographical caudata L. (C genome) and Ae. umbellulata regions of Iran. Zhuk. (U genome); Five tetraploid- T. durum Def. (AB genome), Ae. neglecta L. (UM genome), Ae. cylindrica Host (DC MATERIALS AND METHODS genome) and Ae. crassa Boiss (DM genome) and Ae. triuncialis (CU genome), and One Plant Materials hexaploid– T. aestivum L. (ABD genome) species. All accessions were preserved in the A core collection of 180 Triticum and Gene Bank of the University of Ilam. Aegilops accessions were sampled in natural Detailed information about genome species habitats, desert, valleys, and mountains from and eco-geographical distribution of these Zagros and central Elburz mountains located materials is listed in supplementary Table 1. in a wide range from north, northwest, Downloaded from jast.modares.ac.ir at 15:28 IRST on Wednesday September 29th 2021 Figure 1. Geographical zones of the 180 Iranian Aegilops and Triticum accessions used in this study (black circles indicate sampling locations). 945 ____________________________________________________________ Pour-Aboughadareh et al. Downloaded from jast.modares.ac.ir at 15:28 IRST on Wednesday September 29th 2021 946 Phenotypic Diversity in Wild Relatives of Wheat __________________________________ Experimental Design and Agro-