Yield performance and adaptation of some Australian and CIMMYT/ICARDA developed wheat genotypes in the West Asia North Africa (WANA) region

A set of 29 advanced breeding lines and named cultivars from different bree ding programs in Australia was compared with 18 genotypes developed by the CIMMYT/ICARDA breeding programs for their adaptation and yield performance using 5 locations in the WANA region for 2 years. Classification analysis i dentified 13 CIMMYT/ICARDA genotypes that had a pattern in yield performanc e similar to 2 Australian cultivars, Leichhardt and Hartog. The classificat ion of environments effectively identified trials that experienced heat str ess and received supplementary irrigation. Most of the genotypes developed by the CIMMYT/ICARDA breeding programs showed wide adaptation in the WANA r egion. Genotypes developed for Australian Mediterranean environments failed to show wide adaptation in the WANA region. However, many Australian genot ypes showed specific adaptation to heat-stressed environments. Variation am ong Australian genotypes for disease resistance and heat tolerance could be used for wheat improvement in the WANA region.