Wheat Landraces Currently Grown in Turkey: Area, Diversity and Agronomic Traits.

In 2009 International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (Turkey-CIMMYT-ICARDA) initiated Turkey landrace inventory and within five years landraces were located and collected in more than 50 provinces of the country out of 81. In total, around 200 landraces (by name) from more than 1700 farmers were collected, evaluated and characterized following pedigree when plants representing all landrace diversity are taken into headrows and further tested as pure lines. The presence of the landraces is surprising and they are spread all over the country but primarily in higher altitude mountainous and remote regions. Their botanical and morphological diversity was very high both within and between the landraces. The current diversity of the landraces was compared with the 1930s description conducted by Mirza Gokkol. Despite substantial erosion of diversity some new landraces evolved and occupied new regions. The trials conducted with the landraces demonstrated their high drought tolerance, large grain, long coleoptile and different types of resistance to rusts. The main reason farmers still maintain the landraces is their unique adaptation and excellent quality for home use. On-farm conservation of these landraces depends on the possibility of their improvement through selection of better landrace components and re-creation of improved landraces. Crossing program is also underway to incorporate disease resistance into landraces. The unique feature of the currently grown landraces their exposure and adaptation to the recent climate change which need further investigation.