Origin, Taxonomy, and Distribution of Ancient Wheats in Turkey

Abstract

Ancient wheats “einkorn (Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum), emmer (T. turgidum ssp. dicoccum) and spelt (T. aestivum L. ssp. spelta),” which are diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid wheats, respectively, are also known as “ancient wheat (also termed as farro).” Ancient wheats are not only a promising source of many important traits related with biotic and abiotic stresses for modern wheat improvement, but they are also attracting renewed interest for cultivation due to the global efforts in enhancing food diversity. The exploitation of ancient species is seen as a key factor to further drive genetic improvements in wheat breeding programs worldwide. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to have information about the taxonomy of the ancient wheats to design a breeding for tetraploid and hexaploid wheat for the growing population of the world. For designing the breeding program, we need to introgress favorable alleles from these precious ancient wheat genetic resources. Turkey, one of the most important diversity and domestication centers of wheat, harbors frequent distribution of the various diploid and tetraploid ancient wheat species. In this chapter, we tried to summarize the phylogenetic and taxonomic relationship of various ancient wheat species belonging to different ploidy levels and their distribution areas in Turkey.