Climate change has generated unpredictability in the timing and amount of rain, as well as extreme heat and cold spells that have affected grain yields worldwide and threaten food security. Sources of specific adaptation related to drought and heat, as well as associated breeding of genetic traits, will contribute to maintaining grain yields in dry and warm years. Increased crop photosynthesis and biomass have been achieved particularly through disease resistance and healthy leaves. Similarly, sources of drought and heat adaptation through extended photosynthesis and increased biomass would also greatly benefit crop improvement. Wheat landraces have been cultivated for thousands of years under the most extreme environmental conditions. They have also been cultivated in lower input farming systems for which adaptation traits, particularly those that increase the duration of photosynthesis, have been conserved. Landraces are a valuable source of genetic diversity and specific adaptation to local environmental conditions according to their place of origin. Evidence supports the hypothesis that landraces can provide sources of increased biomass and thousand kernel weight, both important traits for adaptation to tolerate drought and heat. Evaluation of wheat landraces stored in gene banks with highly beneficial untapped diversity and sources of stress adaptation, once characterized, should also be used for wheat improvement. Unified development of databases and promotion of data sharing among physiologists, pathologists, wheat quality scientists, national programmes, and breeders will greatly benefit wheat improvement for adaptation to climate change worldwide.

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Türkiye represents one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, containing over 11,000 species of plants, with an estimated 10% being edible. Wild food plants, especially in rural areas, are collected and eaten or sold in local markets, complementing people’s diets, and represent a source of additional income for foraging households. Yet, the use of wild food plants is declining, with both their dietary and cultural values being undermined. Wild food plants can be used as a healthy dietary alternative to imported and ultra-processed foods, particularly as the Turkish population increasingly suffers from diet-related diseases. Using a unique and innovative approach to mainstream biodiversity for food and nutrition, wild food plants from five different regions of Türkiye were analyzed to determine their nutrient composition, and to evaluate their contribution not only to diets and nutrition, but to promoting a more sustainable food system. Examples are presented of how the approach was put into practice and how action was taken to (i) strengthen the evidence of the nutritional value of wild food plants; (ii) use this knowledge to shape new policies and identify emerging markets for food biodiversity; and, (iii) improve awareness of consumers, using capacity building and farmer training, gastronomy, and cultural events.

Barley scald is caused by the fungal pathogen Rhynchosporium commune. This disease causes substantial losses in barley production areas of the world. In this study, seedling resistance of 198 barley landraces, 104 wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) genotypes and two susceptible Turkish cultivars (Bülbül 89 and Efes 3) to 6 R. commune isolates was assessed in greenhouse experiments. Virulence differences among the R. commune isolates were observed. One sixrowed barley landrace (Yeşilköy 9052) was resistant to all six isolates. Another six-rowed barley landrace (genotype no 17) showed resistant reaction to 5 isolates. Fourteen barley landraces were resistant and susceptible to 4 and 2 isolates, respectively. Twenty seven genotypes of H. spontaneum numbered as 5, and 101 were found resistant to all six isolates of R. commune. Apart from these genotypes, 19 genotypes numbered as 1, 2, 32, 33, 34, 42, 43, 49, 52, 64, 66, 76, 77, 78, 96, 97, 102, 104 and 107 showed resistance to 5 isolates and susceptibility to only 1 isolate. Two susceptible Turkish cultivars Bülbül 89 and Efes 3 were found susceptible to 96% of the scald isolates. Resistant barley landraces and Hordeum spontaneum genotypes can be used as sources of resistance against R. commune.

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