High-Throughput Genotype, Morphology, and Quality Traits Evaluation for the Assessment of Genetic Diversity of Wheat Landraces from Sicily

Abstract

During the XX Century, the widespread use of modern wheat cultivars drastically reduced the cultivation of ancient landraces, which nowadays are confined to niche cultivation areas. Several durum wheat landraces adapted to the extreme environments of the Mediterranean region, are still being cultivated in Sicily, Italy. Detailed knowledge of the genetic diversity of this germplasm could lay the basis for their efficient management in breeding programs, for a wide-range range of traits. The aim of the present study was to characterize a collection of durum wheat landraces from Sicily, using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) markers, together with agro-morphological, phenological and quality-related traits. Two modern cv. Simeto, Claudio, and the hexaploid landrace, Cuccitta, were used as outgroups. Cluster analysis and Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) allowed us to identify four main clusters across the analyzed germplasm, among which a cluster included only historical and modern varieties. Likewise, structure analysis was able to distinguish the ancient varieties from the others, grouping the entries in seven cryptic genetic clusters. Furthermore, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was able to separate the modern testers from the ancient germplasm. This approach was useful to classify and evaluate Sicilian ancient wheat germplasm, supporting their safeguard and providing a genetic fingerprint that is necessary for avoiding commercial frauds to sustaining the economic profits of farmers resorting to landraces cultivation.

Whole Genome Scan Reveals Molecular Signatures of Divergence and Selection Related to Important Traits in Durum Wheat Germplasm

“…Unexpectedly, the landrace JEANH RHETIFHA was genetically distant from the CAPPELLI group. This result agrees with what was assumed by De Cillis (1927) and has recently been confirmed by Marzario et al (2018) and Fiore et al (2019). In addition, given the growing market demand for mono-varietal products and the possibility of re-covering obsolete durum wheat varieties as "conservation varieties, " the obvious genetic similarity between BIDÌ, MARGHERITO and CAPPELLI raises the need of developing new traceability tools to mitigate possible food fraud risks.…”

Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Durum Wheat Under Different Nitrogen and Water Regimes in the Mediterranean Basin

“…Furthermore, PCA confirmed two distinct clusters of genotypes according to their year of constitution, although the older Capeiti appeared slightly different from Cappelli, Russello, and Mazzancoio, according to its pedigree ( De Cillis, 1942 ; Fiore et al, 2019 ).…”

The Adoption of Landraces of Durum Wheat in Sicilian Organic Cereal Farming Analysed Using a System Dynamics Approach

“…As above mentioned, adaptability and some valuable morphological and agronomic traits, such as the resistance/tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress, make landraces an excellent genetic material to improve the resilience of wheat tackling the limited resources available in the marginal areas and in the organic agricultural systems [19]. Landraces represent the real outcomes of on-farm biodiversity even though their yield is lower than modern varieties [41], and consequently, they require more consumption of natural resources (e.g., land and water) to obtain comparable productivity.…”

“…Among Sicilian traditional crops, there are several landraces [16] of wheat which were selected and widely grown by peasants in the first half of 20th century [17] before the replacement with more productive modern cultivars began [18]. In the following decades, in fact, some specific characteristics of the locally adapted landraces, such as plant height, general late maturity, and low harvest index, limited their cultivation to a few marginal areas [19]. Their current existence is the result of the great joint conservation efforts by researchers and farmers.…”