GRAIN-YIELD AND QUALITY OF DURUM-WHEAT LANDRACES IN A DRY MEDITERRANEAN REGION OF NORTHERN SYRIA

Twenty-two durum wheat landraces of various origins were evaluated for performance and stability of grain yield, protein content and gluten strength (SDS sedimentation volume) at two sites of Northern Syria sit uated in the drought-prone part of the local durum wheat belt. Yield w as recorded in three seasons, while protein content and SDS volume wer e assessed in two seasons only. A high ''entry x environment'' interac tion was observed for all traits, which was significantly attributable to heterogeneity of entry regressions on the environmental mean for g rain yield only. Compared to the recently-bred, widely-grown variety ' Sham 1', some landraces showed somewhat similar yield responses, where as others proved more stable without being significantly lower yieldin g. Significant variation was found for SDS volume, though only few of the best-ranking landraces for this trait also possessed an acceptable yield level. The entries did not significantly differ for protein con tent. The broad sense heritability estimates obtained for grain yield (0.59) and SDS volume (0.89) highlighted the interest in some of the l andraces examined for improving grain yield and quality in the region.