Shahal Abbo- The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
Hanan Sela- Institute for Cereal Crops Improvement, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Ben Z. Goldberg- Land of Wheat “Initiative”, Israel.
Avraham Levy, Naomi Avivi-Ragolsky -Department of Plant & Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
For over a century, genetic diversity of wheat worldwide was eroded by continual selection for high yields and industrial demands. Wheat landraces cultivated in Israel and Palestine demonstrate high genetic diversity and a potentially wide repertoire of adaptive alleles. While most Israeli-Palestinian wheat landraces were lost in the transition to Green Revolution semi-dwarf varieties, some germplasm collections made at the beginning of the 20th century survived in genebanks and private collections worldwide. However, fragmentation and poor conservation place this unique genetic resource at a high risk of genetic erosion. Herein we describe a long-term initiative to restore, conserve and characterize a collection of Israeli and Palestinian wheat landraces (IPLR).
Shahal Abbo- The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
Hanan Sela- Institute for Cereal Crops Improvement, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Ben Z. Goldberg- Land of Wheat “Initiative”, Israel.
Avraham Levy, Naomi Avivi-Ragolsky -Department of Plant & Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
For over a century, genetic diversity of wheat worldwide was eroded by continual selection for high yields and industrial demands. Wheat landraces cultivated in Israel and Palestine demonstrate high genetic diversity and a potentially wide repertoire of adaptive alleles. While most Israeli-Palestinian wheat landraces were lost in the transition to Green Revolution semi-dwarf varieties, some germplasm collections made at the beginning of the 20th century survived in genebanks and private collections worldwide. However, fragmentation and poor conservation place this unique genetic resource at a high risk of genetic erosion. Herein we describe a long-term initiative to restore, conserve and characterize a collection of Israeli and Palestinian wheat landraces (IPLR).