The phenotypic diversity of 274 Ethiopian durum wheat accessions was analyzed, taking their geographic origins into account. The aim was to assess the extent and patterns of agronomically important phenotypic variation across districts of origin and altitude classes for major qualitative traits using diversity index and multivariate methods. Eight qualitative and three quantitative traits were scored for 2740 plants and analyzed for diversity. The Shannon–Weaver diversity (H′) index was used to estimate phenotypic diversity. The estimated H′ ranged from monomorphic for glume hairiness to highly polymorphic for other traits. The highest (0.86) H′ was obtained for seed degree of shriveling, possibly indicating the differential responses of the genotypes to water deficit during later growth stages. With respect to district of origin, the highest (0.72) and lowest (0.44) H′ values were obtained for the Bale and SNNP districts, respectively. With respect to altitude, the highest (0.76) and lowest (0.62) H′ values were recorded for altitudes 1600–2000 and >3000m above sea levels, respectively. Principal components analysis explained substantial variation contributed by district of origin and altitude range. Genotypes were clustered into three groups by districts of origin and altitude class, with relatively strong bootstrap values of 57 and 62 for the former and latter, respectively. It could be concluded that Ethiopian durum wheat landraces are very diverse both within and among districts of origin and altitude classes. This wealth of genetic diversity should be exploited for wheat improvement of yield and for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, particularly terminal drought

The valorization of genetic diversities of major crops like wheat may help substantially to feed the world Population. Durum wheat genotypes consisting of 265 farmers’ varieties (FVs), which have been cultivated for many centuries in Ethiopia, as well as 24 improved varieties (IMVs) have been recently evaluated in northern Ethiopia. The evaluation has been carried out at two different locations for 2 consecutive years to verify the inherited diversity in FVs for important phenological and agronomic traits; with the intention to provide refined information to breeders and genebank managers. As a result of a careful evaluation, a very significant variation was observed between the FVs and IMVs. A large number of the former have demonstrated superior performance to the latter in terms of mean values of the major traits within the stipulated years and locations. The best performing FV has shown a gain of 20% grain yield over the best IMV. Multivariate analyses revealed that FVs displayed larger genetic diversity than in those IMVs. FVs could therefore be used as donor of useful alleles in durum wheat breeding for improvement of yield per se and other traits of agronomic and phenological importance. The identified stable superior FVs include: 8208, 226834A, 238567, 222426, 226282 could be best candidates for farmers in marginal environments. Genotypes that have shown stable performance for spatial variation such as 204493A, 214357 and 238567; and temporal variation such as 8208, 208479, 214357 and 226834A could be the best candidates for exploitation in future breeding programs.

Crop genetic diversity is the most important factor for a long-term sustainable production system. Breeding and production strategies for developing and growing uniform and homogenous varieties have created many problems. Such populations are static and very sensitive to unpredictable stresses. In Nepal, more than 80% of the seed system is informal, which has contributed greatly to creating and maintaining genetic diversity within the field. This paper aims to assess and present the approaches and advantages of increased crop genetic diversity in the fields, based on the experiences of implementing on-farm conservation activities carried out in Nepal for last two decades. Some of the evidence has been derived from an ongoing evolutionary plant breeding (EPB) project being implemented in Nepal. The information is supplemented with field assessments, focus group discussion, and a literature review. The major approaches to increase crop genetic diversity are evolutionary plant breeding, cultivar mixture, landrace enhancement, informal seed systems, the bulk method, diversifying the seed sources, participatory plant breeding, open pollination, etc. EPB and cultivar mixture are very simple and effective approaches to increase crop genetic diversity at field level. The involvement of farmers in these approaches helps to accelerate the population improvement, maintaining the higher degree of genetic diversity. The major advantages of increased crop genetic diversity are seed maintenance by farmers themselves, minimal risk of crop failure, resilience to unpredictable stresses, increased amount of diversified nutrition, production increment, ease of producing organically, etc. However, there are some issues and problems associated with mixtures and intra-varietal diversity; for example, not being able to harvest by machine, maturing at a different date, difficulty in maintaining seeds and registration, etc. Crop genetic diversity should be considered as a sustainable approach for a climate-resilient and self-dependent production system. The higher the genetic diversity in farming land, the more chance of receiving multiple benefits in the agriculture system.

The majority of Ethiopian durum wheat are farmers’ varieties. Durum wheat varieties under production in Ethiopia are less productive due to the effect of climate change and marginalism of agricultural inputs. Recognizant to these, revisiting farmers varieties, ex-situ conserved, could be among the best options to adapt these changes. This study has thoroughly characterized a set of 49 durum wheat varieties to assess the level of phenotypic diversity through multivariate approaches for traits of importance. The study was aimed at estimating the extent of genetic diversity among the genotypes and to identify traits maximally contributing to the observed phenotypic variations. The statistical analyses have confirmed that the genotypes have shown very large (p<0.001) variations for most traits considered, except for number of effective tillers. The estimated broad – sense heritability (h2) has ranged from 20% for grain yield to 78% for spike length. The genotypes were grouped into six clusters with significant inter-cluster distances (χ2=15.51, p<0.05). The clustering revealed that the landraces are genetically far from the improved varieties. Genotypes consisted in a particular cluster are superior for a trait or more compared to the other clusters. For instance, genotypes in the first cluster are superior for grain and biomass yields. Early maturing and second high yielding genotypes were consisted in the fifth cluster. The genotype – by – traits biplot analysis has explained 82% of the total variation where 65.5% was explained by PC1, indicating that most of the observed variation is inherited. It can be concluded that the landraces are quite divergent from the improved varieties and the within landraces diversity was also high indicating that they represent important gene pool for important traits. Hence, revisiting landraces, which are Ex-situ conserved, and their exploitation in durum wheat breeding programs for grain yield improvement, earliness and other traits of importance is crucial. Key words: Revisiting, ignored, Durum wheat, landrace, genetic variation, quantitative trait.

This study assesses the impact of a participatory development program called Seeds For Needs, carried out in Ethiopia to support smallholders in addressing climate change and its consequences through the introduction, selection, use, and management of suitable crop varieties. More specifically, it analyzes the program’s role of boosting durum wheat varietal diversification and agrobiodiversity to support higher crop productivity and strengthen smallholder food security. The study is based on a survey of 1008 households across three major wheat-growing regional states: Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray. A doubly robust estimator was employed to properly estimate the impact of Seeds For Needs interventions. The results show that program activities have significantly enhanced wheat crop productivity and smallholders’ food security by increasing wheat varietal diversification. This paper provides further empirical evidence for the effective role that varietal diversity can play in improving food security in marginal environments, and also provides clear indications for development agencies regarding the importance of improving smallholders’ access to crop genetic resources.