Al-Turki T A, Al-Namazi A A, Al-Ammari B S, Al-Mosallam M S, Basahi M A
The herbarium and gene-bank of the king Abdelaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Box 6086, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia.
Al-Imam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic university, College of Science, Biology Department, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi J Biol Sci. 2020 Sep;27(9):2318-2324. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2020.04.015. Epub 2020 Apr 15.
Wheat ( L.) is one of the major food crops of the world, and an important component of food security. The aim of this study was to collect and preserve seeds of wheat growing in eight regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Al-Qassim, Asir, Al-Taif, Najran, AL-Baha, Jazan, Al-Madinah and Wadi Al-Dawasir) where wheat has been cultivated since ancient times. Sixty-one accessions/samples of wheat () were collected and placed in dry storage ( conservation) at -18 °C (i.e. permanent storage). The accessions of local wheat have the ability to grow under harsh environmental conditions such as (high temperature, drought and salinity). Most of these samples were collected directly from farms, but a few were collected from markets. The most important criteria for conservation is that seeds need to have a low moisture content (MC) and a high percentage viability. Seed MC was measured for all 61 accessions by the oven-drying method and seed viability was tested in three ways: percentage of germination, tetrazolium chloride testing, and X-ray radiography. The seed MC of the 61 accessions was uniformly very low (0.10-0.12%), and 97 to 100% of the seeds were viable. Thus, all 61 wheat accessions collected in this study have the initial requirements to remain viable for long periods of time in in the gene seed bank.
小麦（L.）是世界主要粮食作物之一，也是粮食安全的重要组成部分。本研究的目的是收集和保存生长在沙特阿拉伯王国八个地区（卡西姆、阿西尔、塔伊夫、奈季兰、巴哈、吉赞、麦地那和瓦迪达瓦西尔）的小麦种子，这些地区自古以来就种植小麦。收集了61份小麦种质/样本，并在-18°C下进行干燥储存（长期保存）（即永久保存）。当地小麦种质有能力在高温、干旱和盐碱化等恶劣环境条件下生长。这些样本大多直接从农场收集，但也有少数是从市场收集的。长期保存的最重要标准是种子需要有低含水量（MC）和高发芽率。通过烘干法对所有61份种质的种子含水量进行了测量，并通过三种方法测试了种子活力：发芽率、氯化三苯基四氮唑测试和X射线照相。61份种质的种子含水量均非常低（0.10 - 0.12%），97%至100%的种子具有活力。因此，本研究收集的所有61份小麦种质都满足在基因种子库中长期保持活力的初始要求。
