The presence of the enhanced K/Na discrimination trait in diploid Triticum species.

A number of accessions of the three species of diploid wheat, Triticum boeoticum, T. monococcum, and T. urartu, were grown in 50 mol m(-3) NaCl+2.5 mol m(-3) CaCl2. Sodium accumulation in the leaves was low and potassium concentrations remained high. This was not the case in T. durum grown under the same conditions, and indicates the presence in diploid wheats of the enhanced K/Na discrimination character which has previously been found in Aegilops squarrosa and hexaploid wheat. None of the accessions of diploid wheat showed poor K/Na discrimination, which suggests that if the A genome of modern tetraploid wheats was derived from a diploid Triticum species, then the enhanced K/Na discrimination character became altered after the formation of the original allopolyploid. Another possibility is that a diploid wheat that did not have the enhanced K/Na discrimination character was involved in the hybridization event which produced tetraploid wheat, and that this diploid is now extinct or has not yet been discovered.