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Wheat Information Service
Number 82: 36-45 (1996)

III. Genetic stock

Collection of wild Aegilops species in Israel

Taihachi Kawahara1), Eviatar Nevo 2), Tetsuji Yamada1) and Daniel Zohary3)

1 Plant Germ-plasm Institute, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
2 Institute of Evolution, Haifa University, Hai fa, Israel
3 Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel


In 1992, we made an extensive field survey on the distribution of wild Aegilops species, close relatives of cultivated wheats, from end of April to middle of June. A part of the collection is maintained as gene resource at the Plant Germ-plasm Institute, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Mozume, Muko, Kyoto 617 Japan. The list and the maps published in the present report show collection sites of each accessions. The distribution of each species are summarized as follows;

Ae. speltoides
We found two upland (mountain) sites and one lowland (riverside) site of Ae. speltoides. Both awned (var. speltoides) and awnless (var. ligustica) types were found in these sites. But, the proportion of the two types was different. Most plants were awnless in the two upland sites but the majority of plants in the bank of Qishon River were awned. We tried but failed to find out some other populations in the places where this species has been reported. We assume that this species has been extinct due to the change of habitat in those localities.

Ae. bicornis
Ae. bicornis was restricted in the western part of Northern Negev where massive stands were found in near-by localities. A small mixed population with Ae. sharonensis was found in Philistean Plain.

Ae. longissima
Ae. longissima was collected at 25 localities covering from coastal regions to desert area, in Coastal Galilee, Acco Plain, Sharon Plain, Philistean Plain and Northern, Western and Central Negev. In a population at Wingate, south of Netanya, several plants of Ae. sharonensis and hybrid derivatives of the two species were found.

Ae. searsii
We found Ae. searsii in northern Judean Desert, southern Judean Mountains and southern Judean Desert.

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