© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 191
M. Molnár-Láng et al. (eds.), Alien Introgression in Wheat,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-23494-6_8
Chapter 8
Alien Introgressions from wild Triticum
species, T. monococcum , T. urartu , T. turgidum ,
T. dicoccum , T. dicoccoides , T. carthlicum ,
T. araraticum , T. timopheevii , and T. miguschovae
George Fedak
8.1 Triticum monococcum – T. urartu
The diploid einkorn group consists of four “species.” The wild hulled form
encompasses T. boeoticum Boiss, (A b genome) commonly called wild einkorn, and
T. urartu Tumansian ex Gandilyam (A u genome) commonly called wild urartu
einkorn. There is no evidence for the differentiation of the genomes of the two
species. The cultivated group includes the hulled T. monococcum L. (A b genome)
and the free threshing form T. sinskayae A. Filat. & Kurkiev (A b ) genome otherwise
known as Sinskaya einkorn. Diploid cultivated wheat is one of the most ancient
crops domesticated in the Middle East (Harlan 1971 ). Distribution in the wild of
T. boeoticum occurs in the area of the Taurus-Zagros arc of southeastern Turkey,
northeastern Iraq, and eastern Iran (Harlan and Zohary 1966 ).
T.monococcum can be crossed directly to hexaploid wheat then followed by 1–2
backcrosses to restore fertility. From personal experience we found that such cross-
ing was more diffi cult than anticipated and backcrossing was essential to restore
fertility. Progeny of such crosses show minimal linkage drag. Other methods to
introgress traits from T. monococcum to bread wheat are to induce triploid bridges
using durum or using the autotetraploid form of T. monococcum in crosses to durum.
Crosses to tetraploid wheat are somewhat more diffi cult such that triploid bridging
was necessary (Gerechter-Amitai et al. 1971 ).
G. Fedak (*)
Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre , Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada ,
960 Carling Ave , Ottawa , ON , Canada , K1A 0C6
e-mail: [email protected]