DISCRIMINATIVE ANALYSIS OF 10 SPECIES OF AEGILOPS L. (POACEAE) NATIVE TO IRAN

The genus Aegilops is one of the wheat relatives which comprise the main part of its gene pool. The identification of the Aegilops species is difficult due to their vast morphological similarities and gene flow among different species of Aegilops and cultivated wheat. Some morphological characters are used to distinguish different species in Aegilops. In this study, we evaluate all these characters and choose 9 quantitative morphological ones including culm number, reproductive culm number, the length of the longest culm, spike length including and excluding awns, length of longest inter-node, length of lowermost glume, and the length of the uppermost lemma and palea. These characters were measured for 64 populations of 10 species of Aegilops in Iran. Discriminative analysis was used to evaluate the correctness of classification. Results indicate a great confusion between two varieties of Ae. triuncialis, and these taxa as a whole with others. Discriminative analysis proved the diagnostic value of these 9 quantitative characters in Aegilops in Iran.