Tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) is a C4 annual cereal, common in Ethiopia, where it was presumably domesticated. Worldwide interest in tef cultivation and consumption has considerably increased in the last few decades because it is a gluten-free grain with high nutritional value. Here we report on the genetic diversity and heritability in a tef germplasm collection characterized in Israel. A total of 408 accessions of tef held in the Israel Gene Bank were grown in 2015 under common garden (screen-house) conditions for propagation and initial phenotyping. A diversity panel, consisting of 273 accessions representing the entire collection's range of phenotypic diversity, was assembled and evaluated in small field plots in 2016. Further evaluation was conducted in 2017, in single-plant field plots (to eliminate admixtures). A representative plant (plot) was selected from each accession grown in 2017 and its single seed descent progenies where grown in 2018 in single-plant plots. The collection exhibited a wide diversity for each of the measured phenotypic traits, across all four environments. High grain yield was associated in most cases with early flowering time, whereas higher biomass was associated with late flowering. Heritability estimates, calculated based on the 2017, 2018 data, varied between 0.11 for plant biomass and 0.75 for 1000 grain weight. This study shows that tef can successfully grow and produce under irrigated Mediterranean conditions. The wide diversity available in our germplasm collection can provide the foundations for breeding new tef cultivars that are better adapted to these conditions.

Teff is an important food crop that serves to prepare Injera-flat-bread. It is cultivated worldwide and is particularly susceptible to lodging. A diverse collection of teff [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] populations was characterized for a wide range of traits, ranging from agronomic to final Injera sensory parameters, under well-irrigated Mediterranean spring conditions. The populations tested were collected from single plants presenting lodging resistance at the site of collection and their traits were characterized herein. An early type of lodging was observed, which was most likely triggered by a fast and sharp inflorescence weight increase. Other populations were ‘strong’ enough to carry the inflorescence during most of the grain-filling period, up to a point where strong lodging occurred and plants where totally bent to the ground. Three mixed color seed populations were established from a single plant. These were separated into ‘white’ and ‘brown’ seeds and were characterized separately under field conditions. The newly ‘brown’ populations appear to be the result of a rather recent non-self (external) airborne fertilization from a dark pollen donor. Some of these hybrids were found to be promising in terms of Injera sensory traits. The population of these studies might serve as breeding material. Integration between a wide range of parameters and the correlations obtained between agronomic and sensory traits might improve our ability to breed towards a “real world” better end-product.

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