Agronomic and Physiological Study of Cold and Flooding Tolerance of Spelt (Triticum spelta L.) and Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Flooding of soil occurs all over the world in areas of crop production. The resulting lack of available oxygen in the soil can hinder the establishment of field crops such as wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) and thus lead to a decrease in yield. The current study compares the tolerance of spelt ( Triticum spelta L.) and wheat to wet and cold stress during germination and early growth. Two specific traits seem to be related to the superior early flooding tolerance of spelt: (1) fast growth of the coleoptile, which reaches the soil surface rapidly, thus reducing the time span of hypoxia sensitivity, independent of temperatures between 10 and 20 °C; (2) the improved physiological adaptation for coleoptile growth under hypoxia is probably due to lower oxygen consumption between germination and emergence. Because of this high level of flooding tolerance, spelt would also be a good source for breeding for stress tolerance in wheat. These findings will help to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) for characters such as growth rate, flooding tolerance and oxygen consumption in future studies. A marker-assisted introgression of spelt into wheat is necessary to avoid combination with undesirable agronomic traits of spelt.