Variation for ¹¹Na uptake in wild emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccoides in israel: Salt tolerance resources for wheat improvement

Polymorphisms in ²²Na uptake relative to the uptake into T. durum cv. Langdon (RUL), were found among 230 accessions of tetraploid wild emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccoides in Israel. The accessions were collected in 15 populations across the western mesic, and the eastern and southern xeric margins of the Israeli range. The results indicated: (i) widespread genetic variation both within and primarily between populations in²²Na uptake. (ii) Remarkably, the xeric eastern and southern populations, characterized by a drier and hotter climate, significantly displayed lower values of relative ²²Na uptake as compared with the mesic western populations (0·38 versus 0·61 RUL). (iii) Ecological factors and allozyme markers, either singly or in combination explain up to 81% of the variance in RUL and, therefore, appear to be good guidelines for predicting the ecogeographical location and allozymic constitution of specific low relative ²²Na uptake genotypes, which presumably are associated with high salt tolerance. We conclude that T. dicoccoides harbours genetic resources for salt tolerance that can be utilized in wheat improvement by both classical plant breeding and by modern biotechnology.