Variation of morphological traits among wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) landraces from two regions of the Algerian Sahara. Potential interest for wheat breeding

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English. In the Saharan regions of Algeria wheat is cultivated by farmers in small areas of the oases. Saharan wheat landraces that are the result of natural and human selection in hostile environments for several centuries could represent an interesting material to improve abiotic stress tolerance in breeding programs. Indeed, a high level of drought, heat and salt tolerance has been reported in this germplasm. Very little information is however available on the morphological characteristics of these landraces. In the present study, a total of 58 bread wheat landraces originating from ten oases of the Adrar and Tamanrasset regions were characterised, together with two commercial varieties, for 21 quantitative traits related to plant, spike, grain, glume and lemma. A wide morphological variation was noted among landraces, as well as differences related to their environments of origin. Altitude was a determining factor of variation, landraces originating from low altitude exhibiting shorter stems and less fertile tillers and producing more grain, compared to landraces originating from high altitude. The landraces of Adrar with very dense spike of normal type were opposed to the varieties with spikes of speltoid type originating from Tamanrasset. High heritability was recorded for thousand grain weight, number of grains per spike, number of fertile tillers per plant, spike length and spike width, suggesting the possibility of using these traits in wheat breeding programs.