Sancar Bulut
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Hulled wheat, Develi, Gacer.
Emmer (Triticum dicoccum) and einkorn (T. monococcum) cultivation has a long history in Anatolia. The crops, cultivated in Anatolia over thousands years, can still be found in some parts of the country, especially Develi in the Kayseri province. The total cultivation area of these crops was around 36 000 ha in 2015. The species is mainly cultivated in sloping and marginal lands by poor farmers, where no other crops can be economically grown. Cultivation area is rapidly declining, and if such trend continues, hulled wheats will be shortly completely wiped out from Turkey. Present-day distribution of emmer and spelt within Turkey is concentrated in countryside areas of Develi where traditional farming systems still survive. This group of wheats is called in Turkish the general name of ‘kaplìca’ which means ‘covered’ or ‘hulled’. More specifically, the tetraploid species (emmer) is called ‘gacer’ in the Develi. Being a low-yielding type of wheat, emmer was replaced by other improved varieties of Triticum. This decrease was mainly due to the widespread use of improved cultivars of wheat and the adoption of new agricultural techniques, but also to social and economic factors. In fact, wheat yielded 2840 t/ha, whereas hulled wheats yielded 1200 t/ha. The cultivation of these two crops shows disadvantages that relate to the harvesting techniques used and the need to dehisce the spikelets to obtain the grain for human consumption. The increasing interest in low-input systems due to the actual ecological and economical situation has led to a growing interest in specific genetic variability. Organic agriculture and health food products have been gaining increasing popularity that has led to a renewed interest in hulled wheat species such as emmer and spelt. The objective of this study was to estimate agronomical and grain quality characteristics of some Turkey (Develi) emmer landraces. This effort was motivated by the fact that autochthonous materials are at risk of being lost.
