A Potential Beneficial Resource for Health; Ancient Wheat

Turkey; It is considered to be the main center of world important agricultural species such as wheat, barley, oats, peas and lentils. Therefore, almost all kinds of plants are grown. As a result of Vavilov's studies at the beginning of the 20th century; Eight sites of natural distribution of wild relatives derived from cultivated plants were identified. Two of these eight centers are located in our country. These centers are places where agricultural production is rich and diverse. These two centers in our country are the Mediterranean Origin Region and the Near East Origin Region. In summary; Turkey is a rich country in terms of genetic resources, one of these richness is wheat.

The history of wheat in our lands is quite old. As the ancestor of many grains, wheat and barley are among the natural plant species of this region. Wheat affects human life; Man has also influenced the evolution of wheat. First; Wild Einkorn (Triticum boeticum) and Wild Gernik (T. dicoccoides) collected from nature later evolved into primitive forms of Einkorn (T.monococcum) and Gernik (T. dicoccon) by natural selection. These two evolved species; Mankind has gravitated towards them because they are husked, not fragile and have larger grains than wild ones. Mankind's realization of these plant species and their cultivation over time caused them to switch from a nomadic lifestyle to a sedentary lifestyle. The transition to this cultural life took place in the Southeastern Anatolia Region . Although the wheat is self-pollinated; There are 25,000 different cultures of wheat. The first cultivated wheats had husk structures and it is difficult to separate their grains from their husks. However, in modern wheat varieties; grains are not attached to the husks. Therefore, it is easily separated. Today, modern wheat varieties; tetraploid durum wheat (2n=28, AABB) and hexaploid bread wheat (2n=42, AABBDD). In addition, ears of modern wheat species are hard and durable.

A sustainable and healthy food supply is the most important factor that has led to the increasing interest in ancient wheats in the last decade. Although the genetic structure of wheat has been changed to a great extent in the last century, it has resulted in a large increase in reproduction and yield, but this has resulted in deterioration in wheat quality due to the decrease in protein, vitamins and minerals in wheat in general. In addition, this situation caused a decrease in food diversity due to the loss of genetic diversity in the gene pool of cultivated wheat.

The fertile lands of the Middle East, Turkey, where the ancient ancient wheats and their wild predecessors emerged and spread across the world, as seen in the adjacent map. And these lands are the lands where the ancestor of wheat was born.

Ancient wheats had a long history as part of the human diet and played an important role as an important food source for the early civilizations in that region.

It is of great importance to revive the potential of ancient wheats that have undergone genetic erosion. Because this genetic change actually carried the nutritional potential of wheat far from its original state. In addition, today's climate changes, drought, population growth, increase in quality nutrition problems are problems that can be solved by using the biodiversity of ancient wheat for our future.

‍ Bread wheat, (Triticum aestivum L. Em Thell; AABBDD; 2n = 6x = 42) was the world's most important crop in 2014, with a world production of 730 million tons from an area of 220 million hectares. Bread wheat, which is used as the main staple food, has been a source of calories and protein in many countries, providing about 20% of the protein in the human diet. Durum wheat, (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum desf.) is tetraploid wheat (AABB; 2n = 4x = 28), commonly used in pasta production.

A staple food, wheat was also cultivated in ancient Persia, Greece, and Egypt in prehistoric times.

The rapid spread and use of wheat in the world is the result of its unique rheological (fluid, viscosity) properties and bread baking quality of its flour. Due to the characteristic physicochemical properties of gluten, which provides the desired elasticity of the dough, it can be made into a loaf of bread. In addition, pasta quality largely depends on gluten protein composition and content in durum wheat grains.

Over the centuries, the desired bread quality has been achieved through various traditional methods using effectively available species. In some places, traditional bread making has been preserved, while in other areas significant changes have been made. For example, in China it is consumed by brewing wheat with various steaming techniques, while in the Middle East it is baked in the form of bread, preserving traditional cultural traditions. North America, by contrast, has been replaced by wheat by the bakery industry.

Wheat, which is both a strategic and cultural heritage, has a history of approximately ten thousand years in Anatolia. In our country; It is one of the important cultivated cereals. The region where wheat was first cultivated and spread naturally; It is the Southeast Anatolia Region. In our country, wheat is important both historically and socially, culturally and economically. The history of wheat within the borders of Turkey dates back to all civilizations. In the early days when wheat, whose genus name is Triticum, was cultivated, its grains were husked and additional interventions were required to separate the grains from the husks. In addition, the ears of cultivated wheat, which do not have a hard and easily breakable structure; separated after harvest. In modern wheat varieties, on the other hand, since the grains are not adhered to the husks, they are easily separated. Virgo axes are also broken when they mature; is divided into spikelets.

Although the yields of local wheat grown in Turkey are limited, these species, which tend to lie down mostly because they are tall, have low resistance to leaf diseases. They are genetic resources that have existed for centuries through natural selection, have high adaptability, are tolerant to heat and drought, and have high grain quality. Although wheat can self-pollinate; There are twenty-five thousand different types of wheat cultivated. A number of studies have been carried out in order to bring the desired qualities to the cultivated plants with the gene pool. In the studies carried out in 1971, wheat species of Aegilops, Dasypyrum, Triticum and Amblyopyrum; It has made our country an important gene center by creating primary and secondary gene pools.

Three genomes play a role in the development of modern wheat varieties. These;

T. urartu Thumanjan ex Gandilyan, the donor of the Agenom

Although there are debates about the donor of the bgenome ; ae. speltoides Tausch.

The donor of the Dgenome is Ae. It was determined that it came from Tauschii Coss.

Wheat strains with AA, BB and DD genomes have 2n=14 chromosomes. T. boeoticum (Wild Einkorn), one of the ancestral species, has 2n=2x=14 chromosome structure. It evolved into the form of T. monococcum (Einkorn) with a globular structure. Modern wheats belong to two species: Bread wheat of the T. aestivum genus and has the AABBDD genome with 2n=42 chromosomes. The other species is durum wheat of the genus T. durum and has AABB genome with 2n=28 chromosomes. It was determined that modern wheat varieties tetraploid (2n=4x=28) and hexaploid (2n=4x=42) wheats came from Wild Gernik (T.dicoccoides) by spontaneous hybridization of the donor of the B genome and the donor of the Agenom. Later, Wild Gernik evolved, first into Gernik (T. dicoccon) and then into tetraploid-level spelled wheat. With AABB Gernik wheat with 2n=28 chromosomes with husk structure; The donor of the D genome with 2n=14 chromosomes is Ae. By crossing Tauschii species, T.oestivum sumsp. Spelt (Spelt wheat) was formed. With the evolution of spelt wheat, T. aestivum spelled bread wheats with 2n=42 chromosomes have developed.