The genecology of wheat in a Nepalese centre of diversity.
Abstract
In a glasshouse trial, 94 accessions of wheat from E. Nepal (alt. 1220-2985 m) were grown under uniform conditions; 39 characteristics of the plants were recorded. Accessions differed for many characters; many of these differences were correlated with altitude of origin. Accessions from high altitudes were more vegetative and yielded less than those from low altitudes. It was concluded that the high-altitude accessions had higher vernalization requirements. Multivariate analysis (ordination) of the accessions indicated that there were 5 main genecological regions which were again associated with altitude. It was concluded that the regional pattern of variation is due in part to adaptation to altitude but is also influenced by the amount of seed exchange (gene-flow) within and between the regions.