| The second criterion was that of remoteness and inaccessibility of the
wheat-growing area, an area which had not been extensively covered by previous
wheat-collecting expeditions and one wherein a large number of very isolated
wheat-growing communities were likely to be found. The area chosen, embracing habitat types 1 and 2, was that along the valley of the Hari Rud River eastward from Herat through the centre of the country along the Ghorband River to Kabul in the east of the country. Collections in the lowland semidesert habitat which, however, were not inaccessible or remote areas, were made around Kandahar and Boost in the south and Kunduz, Tashkurghan and Mazar-i-Sharif in the north of the country. Because the expedition was somewhat late for the harvest in the lowland semi-desert areas of the country a comprehensive collection from this habitat was not able to be made. However, samples kindly given the expedition by the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture from a comprehensive collection made recently by that organization in these areas, were a very useful addition to the expediton's specimens from this habitat type. It is anticipated that the wheat collection made by the expedition, its documentation and subsequent study will succeed in two broad aims. Firstly, it is hoped that some substantial contribution may be made to a widening of the gene pool for characters of importance of the wheat crop in supplying wheat breeders with new sources of genetic variation for breeding. Secondly, it is envisaged that a study of the collected specimens from the point of view of their distribution, taxonomy, developmental physiology and cytology may provide useful information upon the evolutionary history of Triticum and of its related genera in this part of the world. |
| <-- Back |