Tesfaye Tesemma

Variation and interrelationships of agronomic traits in Ethiopian tetraploid wheat landraces

SummarySixty tetraploid wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) landrace agrotypes collected from the central highlands of Ethiopia and one commercial check cultivar (Boohai) were evaluated at Akaki experimental station for grain yield and 11 other component traits. The objectives were to estimate phenotypic (PCV) and genetic (GCV) coefficients of variation, broad-sense heritability (H) and genetic advance (GA), and to determine the interrelationships among the various traits. Genotypic differences among the agrotypes were highly significant for all the traits considered. Compared to Boohai, the landrace agrotypes were later in days-to-heading (DTH) and maturity (DTM), and had shorter grain filling period (GFP), lower fertility (KS) and lower 1000-kernel weight (TKW). By contrast, they were superior to Boohai in tiller number (TN), biological yield (BY) and grain yield plant-1 (GYP). Intermediate to high order estimate combinations of GCV, H and GA (as % of the mean) were observed for TN, GYP, number of kernels spike-1 (NKS), harvest index (HI) and TKW. GYP showed a moderate heritability which was higher than GFP, BY and Plant height (PHt). DTH and DTM were strongly correlated, but both were negatively associated with the rest of the traits except PHt. The negative correlation of DTM with GYP was largely indirect via other characters. PHt had either a weak or negative association with the other traits. TN and TKW were positively correlated with GYP, and had high and intermediate direct effects, respectively. These two traits, however, were negatively correlated and showed a substantial counter-balance effect via one another. It appears that, for the short-term, improvement of the Ethiopian wheat landraces may be possible through indirect selection for TN and TKW or direct selection for grain yield per se. In the long-run, crossing programmes between indigenous and introduced germplasm may be necessary.

Stability of performance of tetraploid wheat landraces in the Ethiopian highland

Plant breeding has always been concerned with genotype-environment interaction. Normally high and stable performance are desirable attributes of cultivars. However, this is practically difficult to achieve where environmental variations are high and unpredictable and significant genotype-environment interactions occur. Stability of performance of 13 landraces evaluated at 4 different locations for 3 years in the highlands of Ethiopia was investigated. The testing locations have different climatic and edaphic conditions providing the conditions necessary for the assessment of stability. Stability parameters like b, s2d, s2, r2 and cv which are in common use were employed. Grain yield and 1000-kernel weight were the agronomic traits considered for the stability analysis. There were differences in the ranks of genotypes across the locations. Significant main environmental as well as interaction effects were observed showing the importance of genotype-environment interaction in both traits. Many of the landraces evaluated are rated as stable for these traits within the environmental conditions prevailing in these highland locations. Genotypes with specific adaptation to poor and favourable conditions were also identified. Certain genotypes showed similar manners of adaptation and stability for both of the traits. Grain yield showed low correlations with the stability parameters showing the possibility of attaining high yield and stability. Correlations between the stability parameters were mainly positive and significant for grain yield. Only a few of these correlations were found to be significant for kernel weight. The good adaptability of landraces should be exploited in the improvement of their yield potential.

Relationships among tetraploid wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) landrace populations revealed by isozyme markers and agronomic traits.

Diversity and relationships among ten tetraploid wheat landrace populations, collected from different localities in the central highlands of Ethiopia, were studied using isozyme markers and agronomic traits. This type of analysis in crop species is fundamental for designing optimal germ plasm collection, management practices and for developing an index for parental selection. The populations differed in allelic frequencies. Gene-diversity estimates showed that the populations encompass an appreciable amount of variation. However, differentiation between them was low, as was also confirmed by the presence of gene flow. Much of the diversity (85%), was attributable to the within-population level. The genetic distances were mostly small with the exception of those between a few pairs of populations. Thus, the relationships discerned among the populations were more of a similarity nature which could be ascribed to sharing a common ancestral population and/or adaptation to similar climatic conditions. The pattern of genetic divergence appeared to be independent of geographic distance. Considerable divergence in the agronomic traits was observed for certain populations. Cluster analyses of the isozyme and agronomic data produced different patterns and memberships of groupings. This lack of agreement could be ascribed to the different forces of evolution acting on isozyme markers and agronomic traits since agronomic traits, are the prime target of artificial selection. The clustering based on agronomic traits resulted in grouping together populations with similar agronomic performance. The results of this study suggest that taking more samples within a locality or population would be a better approach to capture the range of variation in the landrace populations of the central highlands of Ethiopia.

Natural and human selection for purple-grain tetraploid wheats in the Ethiopian highlands

SummaryPurple-grain tetraploid wheats (Triticum turgidum L.) are widely cultivated in the Ethiopian highlands despite the claim that they have lower industrial quality properties and market prices than the white or red/brown seed-colour types. In an attempt to find a possible explanation for this, the three seed-colour groups were compared for grain yield, other 11 agronomic traits and protein content. Five traits displayed significant differences between seed colour groups where the purple-seed was superior; earlier maturity, shorter height, and higher fertility, tillering capacity and harvest index. Most of these are important adaptive traits to waterlogging stress on dark-clay soils (pellic vertisols) where the great bulk of the Ethiopian tetraploid wheats have been grown. Furthermore, among the three seed-colour groups, purple-seed wheat has the best malting quality for the preparation of arekie, a locally distilled spirituous liquor. It, therefore, appears that both natural and human selections have been reponsible for their continued cultivation. Hence, the notion that purple-seeded wheat is the “least preferred” should be interpreted carefully not to necessarily address the whole community in Ethiopia. As to their taxonomy, all tetraploid wheat taxa (T. turgidum L. sensu lato, 2n = 4x = 28) that are found in Ethiopia, with the possible exception of T. dicoccon Shrank (locally known as Adja), may possess the purple pericarp-colour, although in varying frequencies; very low inT. polonicum L., and high inT. carthlicum Nevski andT. durum Desf.

Performance of Ethiopian tetraploid wheat landraces at their collection sites

SummaryTwo hundred and three site specific pure line agrotypes, derived from 2000 entries of ten tetraploid wheat (Triticum turgidum) landrace populations collected at four localities in the central highlands of Ethiopia, were evaluated for three years at their respective sites of collection (Cheffe Donsa, Bichena) and at Akaki and Debre Zeit. At each site three adjacent yield trials corresponding to the three seed colours of brown, white, and purple, as found among the landraces were conducted. There were statistically significant differences for yield, 1000-kernel weight, days to heading and days to maturity between agrotypes within each trial group at all sites. Statistically significant differences for plant height were also observed in most of the trial groups. The agrotype x year interactions were statistically significant for 1000-kernel weight, days to heading and days to maturity within each trial group while they varied with test site for yield and plant height. No significant correlations were observed between yield and 1000-kernel weight in most of the trial groups. On the other hand, correlations between other agronomic traits varied with trial groups and test sites. Pure line agrotypes that have significantly outyielded the local check at the respective collection sites have been identified for use by farmers in those localities or for further improvement of the landraces.

Isozyme variation in Ethiopian tetraploid wheat (Triticum turgidum) landrace agrotypes of different seed color groups

SummaryEthiopian landraces of tetraploid wheat can be grouped according to their seed colors in three major groups: brown, purple and white seeded. Seeds with different colours are used for different purposes, and the three seed colour groups are treated separately in breeding programs. The genetic variation between and within these groups was studied by isozyme analyses at six highly polymorphic loci in sixty landrace agrotypes. The mean number of alleles per locus was 1.95. The mean allele frequencies showed significant variation both within and between the seed colour groups. The brown and white seeded types had very high genetic identity and the genetic identity values between the brown and purple and the purple and white groups were only slightly smaller. The average coefficient of gene differentiation between the seed colour types was very low. Only about 5% of the total genetic variation was due to differences between the seed colour groups. This indicates that agrotypes of different seed colours can not be treated as genetically separate and distinct groups.