Cultivated emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccon Schrank), an old crop with promising future: a review

Abstract

Cultivated emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccon Schrank, a tetraploid species with hulled grain, has been largely cultivated during seven millennia in the Middle-East, Central and West Asia, and Europe. It has been largely replaced by hulless species and is now a minor crop, with the exception of some countries like India, Ethiopia and Yemen, where its grain is used for preparing traditional foods. Nutritional qualities and specific taste and flavor of emmer wheat products have led to a recent development of the cultivation in some European countries. Emmer wheat also possesses valuable traits of resistance to pests and diseases and tolerance to abiotic stresses and is increasingly used as a reservoir of useful genes in wheat breeding. In the present article, a review concerning taxonomy, diversity and history of cultivation of emmer wheat is reported. Grain characteristics and valuable agronomic traits are described. Some successful examples of emmer wheat utilization for the development of durum or bread wheat cultivars are examined, and the perspectives in using emmer wheat as health food and for the development of new breeding germplasm are discussed.

Agronomically important traits of emmer wheat

“…Generally, all the emmer wheat landraces were absolutely resistant to mildew and brown rust if the plot attack of one of these pathogens was natural ( Table 2). For that reason, it is interesting to breed the emmer wheat in order to enhance their resistance to the abovementioned pathogens (Zaharieva et al 2010).…”

“…Meanwhile, some literature presents a similar productivity level of emmer and bread wheat, if varieties are grown in arid conditions (Marconni and Cubadda 2005) or with a lack of nitrogen in the soil (Trčková et al 2005). Another advantage of emmer, published in the literature is a high quality of production (Zaharieva et al 2010).…”

“…dicoccon (Schrank) Thell. ], is a tetraploid species (BA-genomes) belonging to the Triticum L. genus (Zaharieva et al 2010). Emmer wheat is one of the earliest domesticated plants and has been a staple crop over centuries (Troccoli and Codianni 2005).…”

“…Emmer wheat is one of the earliest domesticated plants and has been a staple crop over centuries (Troccoli and Codianni 2005). It has been grown, for example, in extreme montane conditions (Zaharieva et al 2010). Breeding of emmer has rarely been given attention and its productivity does not usually achieve that of modern bread wheat cultivars (Vita et al 2006).…”

“…Further reason for growing and using emmer is presented in scientific literature as its tolerance to drought (Zaharieva et al 2010), because a warmer climate and drought conditions (Márton et al 2007) could become more frequent (Bucur and Savu 2006). An indirect method of discrimination of the isotope 13 C (CID) in photosynthesis could be applied in the evaluation of tolerance to drought (Araus et al 2002).…”