Study of the frost tolerance and winter hardiness of emmer (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccon) genebank accessions under natural and artificial conditions

摘要

The growing interest in emmer cultivation has no doubt been stimulated by the increasing demand for traditional foods with an lmage of naturalness, especially on the organic market. The new economic situation could stimulate the breeding and production of cmmer as the source of an especially valuable foodstuff. It is the task of breeders to produce emmer varieties that can survive even the hardest winter occurring in the targeted cultivation area without serious damage. The best sources to improvethe winter hardiness arc probably the emmer genetic resources stored in genebanks. Unfortunately no public data are available on the frost tolerance and winter hardiness of the various genebank accessions. In the present research the frost tolerance andwinter hardiness of 10 winter emmer genebank accessions were studied under nursery and phytotronic conditions. The results suggest that the majority of the populations studied are frost-sensitive, and only few landraces have an acceptable level of winterhardiness and frost resistance.