Biotech Studies 2016, Vol 25, Num, 2     (Pages: 182-192)

Einkorn Wheat (Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum) Tolerates Cold Stress Better than Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) During Germination

Didem Aslan 1 ,Bülent Ordu 2 ,Nusret Zencirci 1

1 Abant İzzet Baysal University, Art and Sciences Faculty, Biology Department, Bolu, Turkey
2 Abant İzzet Baysal Univ., Economical and Commercial Faculty, Business Deprt., Bolu, Turkey
DOI : 10.21566/tarbitderg.281324 - Twelve bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars and ten einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum L.) populations were investigated for germination rate (GR-%), germination power (GP-%), coleoptile length (CL-cm), shoot length (SL-cm), root length (RL-cm), shoot/root length ratio (SRLR), root fresh weight (RFW-mg), root dry weight (RDW-mg), and root fresh /dry weight ratio (RFDWR) under seven different cold stress levels in a three replicate randomized complete block design with factorial restriction. Experimental materials, which were utilized in this research, showed significantly different responses under seven cold levels. From them, 20 bread wheat genotypes demonstrated higher significance for GR, RL, and RDW; significance for CL and SL; and non-significance for GP, SRLR, and RFW. Pearson linear correlation coefficients calculated were highly significant between RL-SL, RL-RFW, and RDW-RFW but not between GR-RFDWR, GP-RFDWR, CL-RFDWR, SL-RFDWR, RL-RFDWR, SRLR-RFDWR, RFW-RFDWR, and RDWRFDWR. Similarly, Spearman correlation coefficients were highly positive between GR-GP, GR-CL, GR-SL, GR-RL, GR-RFW, GR-RDW, GP-CL, GP-SL, GP-RL, GP-RFW, GP-RDW, CL-SL, CL-RL, CL-SLRLR, CLRFW, CL-RDW, SL-RL, SL-SLRLR, SL-FW, SL-RFDWR, RL-SRLR, RL-RFW, RL-RDW, SRLR-RFW, SRLRRDW, and SRLR-RFDWR. On the other hand, PCs were not significant for SL (0.156), RL (0.156), and RDW (0.156) in PC 1; significant in PC2 for RFDWR (0.99); and significant in PC3 for GR (-0.342). Cumulative variance of first three PCs was 87.58% and the average dendogram for both bread and einkorn wheat entries produced two main groups. As a result, einkorn wheat populations from higher elevations seemed to provide good genetic resources for cold tolerance during germination stages. It is obvious that these characters easily can be used in any wheat breeding programs against cold stress. Keywords : Bread wheat, cold stress, einkorn, germination stages