Tracking the adoption of bread wheat varieties in Afghanistan using DNA fingerprinting.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Wheat is the most important staple crop in Afghanistan and accounts for the main part of cereal production. However, wheat production has been unstable during the last decades and the country depends on seed imports. Wheat research in Afghanistan has emphasized releases of new, high-yielding and disease resistant varieties but rates of adoption of improved varieties are uncertain. We applied DNA fingerprinting to assess wheat varieties grown in farmers' fields in four Afghan provinces.

Results

Of 560 samples collected from farmers' fields during the 2015-16 cropping season, 74% were identified as varieties released after 2000, which was more than the number reported by farmers and indicates the general prevalence of use of improved varieties, albeit unknowingly. A

SUBMITTER: Dreisigacker S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6699131 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature