| I. Research Notes A note about the "New dates for recent cultivation of Triticum monococcum and Triticum dicoccum in Yugoslavia" Slavko BOROJEVIC Institute of plant Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, Yugoslavia Under the quoted title in WIS No. 3, Elisabeth Schiemann has published the research note on recent cultivation of T. monococcum and T. dicoccum in Yugoslavia. I found it necessary to make some corrections on this article. That "Einkorn is still a regular crop in 4 villages in Kroatia, Hercegowina and Macedonia" and that "Emmer is still found in 7 villages in Kroatia, and one in Bosnia, Hercegowina and Montenegro respectively" are not correct and show very little why and to what extent they are actually grown. I have visited many parts of the country and collected these species, but just in how many villages they are cultivated is difficult to say. The fact is that these species are much more widely spread than Schiemann has informed us. In province Lika (Kroatia) Emmer and Einkorn are not grown only in counties Gospic and Perusic but also in Gracac. Korenica, Otocac, Brinje etc., what includes many villages in each country. The same is true for Bosnia, Hercegowina, Montenegro etc. Recent statistics show that Emmer and Einkorn are cultivated on ca 10,000 to 15,000 hectares (varying largely from year to year), more than 3/4 of that belonging to Emmer. In the most mountainous regions where the climate is severe and soils are poor or in dry continental regions on Karst, peasants like to have in addition to wheat or barley a field (rarely more than 0.25 hectare per a holding) of Emmer or Einkorn because they withstand coldness, drought and rust infection better than wheat. Emmer is mostly grown mixed with oats or barley while Einkorn is mostly found in pure culture. Both crops are used as fodder for horses and pigs and very rarely for bread. If so, then they are always mixed with common wheat of barley. Morphological and other characteristics of the species concerned will not be discussed here. |