Wheat genotypes grown in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries cannot compete with commercial cultivars for productivity. These landraces are valuable genetic resources that could benefit in developing new cultivars enriched with nutritious microelements and other ingredients beneficial for human health. As a result of wheat research, for the first time, preserving the 31 landraces in their natural form in the remote territories of Uzbekistan ensued, including a catalog of compilation by determining their economic and morphologically valuable features. Based on cluster analysis and quantitative characteristics, local wheat genotypes attained five groupings with a compiled dendrogram. With the dendrogram, determining the morphological attributes of ancient local cultivars of wheat materialized, even though the grain color is the same, a sharp difference is noticeable, but still similar based on quantitative characteristics that ensure the grain yield. In ancient local wheat cultivars, plant height and 1000-seed weight have a weak correlation with other traits, and a strong positive association was distinct between the spike length and spikelets per spike and the number and grain weight per spike. The polymorphism of soft wheat landraces showed according to the electrophoretic spectra in the grain’s gliadin proteins. The electrophoretic parameters of gliadin proteins indicated that of the six samples of cultivar Kzyl-bugdoy listed in the catalog, only four have similar electrophoretic spectra. In cultivar Ak-bugdoy’s four specimens, three have identical spectra, while three from the cultivar Surkhak have different bands. Based on individual selection and according to electrophoretic spectra from wheat landraces, the release of the wheat cultivar Kairaktash was due to its high baking and nutritional value.
wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), mountainous Uzbekistan, landraces, morphological analysis, quantitative characteristics, gluten content, electrophoretic analysis, gliadins
The presented study sought to identify the potential soft wheat landraces based on quantitative traits and electrophoretic spectra of gliadin proteins in Uzbekistan. Adapted to the rainfed conditions of the Republic, the developed cultivar Kairaktash ensued through individual plant selection from ancient local wheat populations.