Email: Aviya.fadida@mail.huji.ac.il

Health-food market trends promote new commercial interest in ancient wheat such as emmer (Triticum turgidum dicoccum) and spelt (T. aestivum spelta). Both crops enjoy growing demand from consumers and farmers as high-value premium grain crops. Previous studies in our lab on diverse collections of emmer (n=121) and spelt (n=150) have shown that early phenology is a key adaptive factor for both crops under the Mediterranean environment.

In such environments, late phenology genotypes are exposed to prolonged and severe terminal drought before or right after anthesis, resulting in significant reductions in grain yield penalties. To study the agronomic and grain quality potential of spelt and emmer in the Mediterranean region, we have initiated two comparative studies: (1) GxExM field study: this study includes representative accessions (n=2) of each of the following crops (emmer, durum, spelt, and bread wheat) (G) across three environments (E).

Two agronomic aspects were investigated: irrigation (with and without supplementary irrigation) and field stand (70 vs 140 kg seeds/ha) (M); (2) Grain shape association study: a large collection (n=507) of emmer, durum, spelt, and bread wheat was genotyped by DArTseq and characterized for grain shape and grain quality (e.g., gluten content and quality, Fe, Zn content, SDS etc.) across three environments in order to assess genomic and phenotypic associations.

Analysis of grain yield using AMMI has highlighted the low yields of late phenology spelt, especially under water-limited conditions. As expected, lower field stand resulted in lower grain yield, however, this negative response was significantly higher in both modern wheats with a reduction of ~30%. Emmer showed relatively high stability across different environments and management practices, including water deficit. However, emmer and spelt yielded about 60% to 30% of durum and bread wheat, respectively, indicating the clear need for breeding and selecting for early prototypes.

In the association study, we observed significant differences in grain shape between the four wheat groups, particularly in grain roundness, a parameter associated with higher flour extraction rate. Complementary quality analysis of this germplasm is currently being conducted in collaboration with the CIMMYT quality lab.

Once finalized, this analysis will enable us to associate grain shape and grain quality with SNP variation across wheat genome. Applying this knowledge via targeted breeding aimed at developing early-flowering emmer and spelt varieties with high grain quality, better adapted to Mediterranean environment, is also being discussed in the context of diversifying agro-systems and enhancing farmer's profits.