​

Wheat breeding has been carried out on both bread and durum wheat.

Bread wheat :

- Rainfed conditions

- Irrigated conditions

Breeding has been carried out for both conditions but, material and source allocation are about 75 % for rainfed, 25 % for irrigated. About 500 crosses are made annually in bread wheat program for both conditions in total.

Durum wheat :

Winter durum breeding has been carried out for rainfed conditions of Central Anatolia and Transitional Zones. Durum wheat program is about 30 % of bread wheat program in terms of material and source allocation. About 300 crosses are made annually in the program.

Breeding objectives for bread and durum wheat are:

- Winter hardiness,

- Drought resistance in rainfed conditions,

- High yielding ability (to get better response to better conditions),

- Yield stability,

- Earliness (medium earliness is desirable not to get caught late frost in spring and to get better advantage of late May-early June rainfall),

- Wide adaptation,

- Good bread-making and macaroni quality,

- Resistance to diseases (yellow rust, stem rust, common bunt, loose smut, SBWMV)

Breeding Methodology

Same breeding methodology has been applied both in bread and durum wheat.

- Segregating material : Modified Bulk method (F2-F4 , in Eskişehir)

- F5 single head rows (25-75 head rows/cross, in Eskişehir)

- Observation nurseries (1000-2500 entry; 6 rows x 3 m machine planting in Eskişehir, 2 rows x 2 m hand planting in Hamidiye). Checks are Gerek79, Altay2000, Müfitbey, and Tosunbey(Rf), Alpu01,Sultan95, Çetinel, Yunus, Konya2002 (Irr.), Kunduru1149, Dumlupınar, Yelken2000, Eminbey and Kızıltan (Durum)

- Preliminary Yield Trial (300-700 entry; 4 rows x 5 m in Eskişehir, Hamidiye; Checks are Gerek79, Bezostaya1, Müfitbey, Harmankaya99 and Altay2000 (RF), Bezostaya1, Sultan95, Yunus and Çetinel2000 (Irr.), Kunduru1149, Altıntaş, Yelken2000, Eminbey and Kızıltan (Durum)

- Yield Trial

RF 110 new entry + 11 checks, Irr.  112 new entry + 9 checks,

Durum 76 new entry + 5 checks

- Regional Yield Trial (RYT)

20 new entry +4 checks (6-8 Locations in the region)

- National Winter Wheat Trial (NWWT)

Selected 4-5 best entry from RYT are submitted to the National Coordination Center from each 5 Institutes in Winter Zone,Edirne, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Ankara and Konya. These lines are tested in 10-12 locations of Central Anatolia and Transitional Zones.

Promising lines from NWWT are submitted to the National Variety Testing Institute (NVTI) for final evaluation and registration as new cultivars. Lines are grown in NVTI trials in 15-20 different locations of Central Anatolia and Transitional Zones for 2 years. Any line better than standards is registered as a new cultivar.

Thirtyeight bread wheat and 6 durum wheat cultivars were developed by AARI since its foundation (Table 1). Presently, some of them have been grown extensively by the farmers.

Table 1. Wheat cultivars developed by TZARI

Barley Breeding       

Breeding studies on Barley at the institute have been carried out since foundation of the institute. Methodology used for improving new varieties is very like to that of Wheat Breeding.

Breeding objectives :

-to develop cultivars which are:

-suitable for irrigated and dry farm areas of Central Plateau and Transitional Regions of Anatolia,

-tolerant to winter hardiness,

-resistant to  disease (stem  rust, SBWMV, smut, Helminthosporium gramineum H.teres, H.sativum, Rhincosporium spp.)

-have high yielding ability,

-resistant for lodging,

-tolerant to drought,

-tolerant to Zn deficiency, B toxicity,

-have high malt and feeding quality.

Table2. Barley varieties released by TZARI