Unlocking the story of resistance to Zymoseptoria tritici in Tunisian old durum wheat germplasm based on population structure analysis.

Background: Septoria tritici blotch (STB) remains a significant obstacle to durum wheat cultivation on a global scale. This disease remains a challenge for farmers, researchers, and breeders, who are collectively dedicated to reduce its damage and improve wheat resistance. Tunisian durum wheat landraces have been recognized as valuable genetic ressources that exhibit resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and therefore play a crucial role in breeding program aimed at creating new wheat varieties resistant to fungal diseases as STB, as well as adapted to climate change constraints.

Morphological characterization and genetic diversity analysis of Tunisian durum wheat (Triticum turgidum var. durum) accessions.

Background: Tunisia is considered a secondary center of diversification of durum wheat and has a large number of abandoned old local landraces. An accurate investigation and characterization of the morphological and genetic features of these landraces would allow their rehabilitation and utilization in wheat breeding programs. Here, we investigated a diverse collection of 304 local accessions of durum wheat collected from five regions and three climate stages of central and southern Tunisia.