Abderrahmane Hannachi

The study evaluated the combining ability of four durum wheat cultivars—Achouri, Waha, Beni Mestina, and Mohamed Ben Bachir—through a 4×4 half-diallel cross design, generating six F₂ hybrid combinations. Parents and their progeny were assessed during the 2023–2024 growing season under rainfed conditions in Setif, Algeria, for eight morphoagronomic traits including plant height (cm), spike length (cm), spike weight (g plant⁻1), number of spikes plant−1, number of grains spike⁻1, thousand kernel weight (g), grain yield (g plant⁻1), and aboveground biomass (g plant⁻1). Analysis of variance revealed significant genetic variation for all traits. Both general (gca) and specific (sca) combining ability significantly influenced trait expression, indicating additive and non-additive gene actions. Additive effects controlled plant height, spike length, spikes plant−1, and grains per spike, while non-additive effects prevailed for spike weight, kernel weight, grain yield, and biomass. Beni-Mestina exhibited strong positive gca estimates for multiple yield traits including spike weight (0.40), spikes plant−1 (0.39), kernel weight (2.31), and grain yield (0.28), alongside a desirable reduction in plant height (–3.77). Achouri contributed positively to plant height (7.10), spike length (0.63), grains spike⁻1 (4.14), and biomass (0.72). Hybrids Achouri × Mohamed Ben Bachir and Waha × Mohamed Ben Bachir showed favorable sca effects for kernel weight (11.54 and 6.47, respectively) and grain yield (1.45 and 1.83, respectively), with the later also improving spike weight (0.49). Superior crosses were not always derived from high-gca parents. These findings support strategic parent selection and generation-targeted phenotyping—early selection for additive traits and delayed selection (F₃–F₄) for non-additive traits, along with bi-parental mating within promising sca crosses

Bread wheat production in semi-arid regions is strongly constrained by environmental variability, particularly drought stress, which limits yield stability. This study evaluated the agro-morphological performance, yield components, and stress tolerance of 55 bread wheat genotypes in six different rainfed environments defined by three locations in northeastern Algeria over two cropping seasons (2021–2022 and 2022–2023), using an augmented block design. The combined analysis of variance showed highly significant effects of environment and genotype for all traits, while genotype × environment interactions were trait-dependent, being significant for spike length, thousand-kernel weight, and aboveground biomass. Environmental effects accounted for the largest share of total variation (38.76 to 81.80%). Substantial phenotypic variability was observed, with moderate to high broad-sense heritability (36.59 to 79.24%), indicating reasonable selection prospects despite pronounced environmental influence. Correlation analyses revealed that yield formation was predominantly driven by kernel number, spike density, and biomass under both conditions, while flag leaf area contributed more specifically under stress. Based on the Stress Tolerance Index, breeding line T22 followed by T2, and T23 combined high yield potential with strong stability, exhibiting the highest STI values (0.786, 0.485, and 0.463, respectively). Future breeding efforts should prioritize crossing these superior lines with locally adapted cultivars and expanding multi-environment trials across wider semi-arid agroecosystems to accelerate the development of climate-resilient wheat varieties.

This study employed Hayman’s diallel analysis to investigate the inheritance patterns of eight agronomic traits in durum wheat ( Triticum durum Desf.) using a 4 × 4 half-diallel mating design evaluated across F ₁ and F ₂ generations. Field trials were conducted at the INRAA experimental station in Sétif, Algeria, during the 2021–2022 and 2023–2024 growing seasons. The analysis revealed significant genotypic variation across all studied traits, with distinct inheritance patterns emerging between generations. Plant height was predominantly governed by additive gene action. In contrast, spike length and number of grains per spike shifted from overdominance in F ₁ to partial dominance in F ₂ , reflecting enhanced additive effects post-recombination. Yield components, including spike weight, number of spikes per plant, and grain yield, exhibited persistent non-additive inheritance and overdominance across generations, indicating limited early-generation selection efficiency. Dominance effects were significant in F ₁ but diminished in F ₂ for most traits, suggesting a recombination-mediated breakdown of heterotic patterns. Allele distribution was asymmetric, highlighting unequal parental contributions and the potential for heterosis exploitation. Most traits were controlled by a single gene or a closely linked gene block, as indicated by the h ^ 2 / H ^ 2 ratio. High broad-sense heritability, in contrast to variable narrow-sense heritability, suggests the need for generation-specific breeding strategies. These findings support pedigree selection for additive traits in early generations and recurrent or advanced-generation selection for yield components, thereby optimizing durum wheat improvement under semi-arid Mediterranean conditions.

The Mediterranean Basin is warming at a rate approximately 20 % faster than the global average. In the southern Mediterranean countries, there is an urgent need to identify and adopt alternative crops that combine profitability with adaptability for local farmers. Camelina (Camelina sativa) has been proposed as a candidate for diversification. However, its agronomic performance under local semi-arid conditions remains poorly understood. To address this gap, a field study was conducted in the Setif region of Algeria over two growing seasons, examining the effects of three tillage systems (conventional tillage, minimum tillage, and direct seeding) and two seeding rates (600 and 800 seeds.m2). Results showed that tillage significantly impacted plant stand establishment, with the highest seedling emergence (436.28 plants.m-2) and final plant density at harvest (332.22 plants.m-2) obtained under conventional tillage. Seed yield was similar between conventional (120.74 g.m-2) and minimum tillage (106.94 g.m-2), and both systems significantly outperformed direct seeding (72.35 g.m-2). The growing season was identified as the predominant factor influencing the fatty acid composition of camelina oil, with α-linolenic acid ranging from 30.94 % to 35.22 % and oleic acid from 14.33 % to 18.82 %. These findings demonstrate that camelina is a resilient and promising oilseed crop capable of diversifying and strengthening agricultural systems in Algeria and similar semi-arid regions.

Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) plays a crucial role in Algeria’s agronomic sector, contributing significantly to the economy and food security. This study assesses the genetic effects and combining abilities of key agronomic traits using a 4 × 4 half-diallel mating design. The parents and their six F1 hybrids were evaluated during the 2021–2022 growing season in a randomized complete block design with three replications at INRAA Institute (Setif, Algeria). Eight morpho-agronomic traits —plant height (PH), spike length (SL), spikes weight (SW), number of spike plant−1 (NS), number of grains spike−1 (NGS), thousand kernel weight (TKW), grain yield (GY) and above-ground biomass (BIO)—were analyzed. Combining ability was assessed using GRIFFING’s Method 2, Model 1 to estimate the general combining ability (gca) and specific combining ability (sca) effects. Significant gca and sca effects were observed across all traits, confirming both additive and non-additive genetic influences. Additive gene effects predominated for PH, SL, and GY, while non-additive effects were more relevant for SW, NS, NGS, TKW, and BIO. Waha (P2) and Beni Mestina (P3) showed significant gca effects for PH, Achouri (P1) for SL and BIO, Beni Mestina (P3) for SW, NS, GY, and MBB (P4) for TKW, indicating their potential as good general combiners. Hybrids Achouri × Waha (H1) and Beni Mestina × MBB (H6) exhibited significant sca effects for PH, while Achouri × Waha (H1) also influenced SL and BIO. Additionally, Beni Mestina × MBB (H6), Achouri × MBB (H3), and Achouri × Waha (H1) exhibited notable sca effects for TKW, indicating complementary gene interactions. These findings provide insights into durum wheat’s genetic architecture, aiding in the selection of promising parents and hybrids for breeding programs. The results emphasize the complexity of hybrid performance prediction and highlight the importance of careful parental selection to enhance yield and related traits.

Wheat is a vital crop globally, essential for agriculture, economics, and food security. However, in arid and semi-arid conditions, wheat production faces significant challenges due to low water availability, uneven rainfall distribution, and high soil salinity. The germination and early seedling stages are particularly vulnerable to these stresses. Therefore, this study assessed 15 wheat genotypes for their tolerance to salinity stress during early growth stages, using a hydroponic system with four salt stress levels (0, 50, 100, and 150 mM NaCl). Significant differences were observed for genotype and salinity main effects and their interaction on all investigated traits, indicating considerable variability in the response to salt stress among the investigated wheat cultivars. High NaCl concentrations led to substantial reductions in measured parameters across genotypes, with some showing resilience while others exhibited heightened sensitivity. Stress tolerance indices, such as mean productivity (MP), geometric mean productivity (GMP), harmonic mean (HM), stress tolerance index (STI) and yield index (YI), were identified as reliable indicators for selecting salt-tolerant wheat cultivars. Consequently, Sidi Okba (G11), Ziad (G12), Tamezghida (G13) and Zidane (G14) emerged as the most promising, displaying acceptable performance under both non-stress and salt-stress conditions. These genotypes could serve as valuable genetic resources for breeding programs aimed at enhancing wheat’s salinity tolerance, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions.

Abiotic stresses pose significant challenges to wheat farming, yet exploiting the genetic variability within germplasm collections offers an opportunity to effectively address these challenges. In this study, we investigated the genetic diversity of key agronomic traits among twenty durum wheat cultivars, with the intention to pinpoint those better suited to semi-arid conditions. Field trials were conducted at the ITGC-FDPS Institute, Setif, Algeria, during the winter season of 2021/22. A completely randomized design was used with three replicates. Statistical analyses revealed significant variation among the genotypes for most of the studied traits, with some cultivars exhibiting a superior performance in a stressful environment. Notably, traits like the number of grains per spike (NGS) and the grain yield (GY) displayed high genotypic coefficients of variation (CVg). Except for membrane thermostability (MT) and biological yield (BY), the majority of the assessed traits exhibited moderate-to-high heritability estimates. Genotypic and phenotypic correlation studies have confirmed the importance of many yield-related traits in the expression of GY. The harvest index (HI) underscored the highest genotypic direct effect on GY, followed closely by spike number (SN), serving as consistent pathways through which most of the measured traits indirectly influenced GY. The cluster analysis categorized the durum wheat cultivars into seven distinct clusters. The largest inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters G3 and G4 (D² = 6145.86), reflecting maximum dissimilarity between the individuals of these clusters. Hybridizing divergent clusters may benefit future breeding programs aiming to develop potential durum wheat varieties through cross combinations. This study’s findings contribute to sustainable agriculture efforts by facilitating the selection of genotypes with enhanced resilience and productivity, particularly for cultivation in challenging semi-arid regions.

Wheat is a socioeconomically important crop in Algeria. Improving genetic gain of quantitative traits through selection is at the core of every successful breeding program. Selection is usually performed on grain yield, but other agronomically related characteristics can also help increase genetic gain through indirect or multi-trait selection. The objective of this work was to quantify genetic parameters and compare the efficiency of direct, indirect and simultaneous selection methods in terms of predicted genetic values of wheat progenies. For this purpose, 418 F4-derived lines were evaluated for six agronomic traits including heading date, flag leaf area, plant height, number of spikes, thousand kernel weight and grain yield in an augmented block design with three check varieties. Wide genetic variation with moderately high broad-sense heritability were observed for the recorded traits, except for heading date. The results from genetic gain revealed variation in gains for assessed traits and breeding methods employed. The classic index of Smith and Hazel (SHI) demonstrated a similar genetic gain in grain yield compared to gain from direct selection. Generally, the selection-based index showed the highest responses considering all traits simultaneously with a slight inferiority of the SHI index. The coincidence rates among the evaluated indices were higher than those obtained between the measured traits. Based on the comparisons between the selected lines, the SHI index and the selection base index of Williams were similar to grain yield and can reach up to 79.51% coincidence of breeding lines identified by these selection criteria. Breeding lines L252, L34, L24, L130 and L413 were the most common individuals identified according to number of coincidences from the different selection methods used. Of these, L34 and L24, and to a lesser extent L15 can be considered promising wheat lines for improving grain yield.

The genetic improvement of any breeding population largely depends upon the magnitude of genetic variability present. This study was carried out to estimate parameters of the genetic variation among 13 quantitative traits of bread wheat evaluated at INRAA-Setif institute (Algeria) during the 2020–2021 crop season in a rainfed environment. 34 genotypes including four control checks were planted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Genotypes showed significant variations for almost all the studied traits. Proline content, spikes weight, and grain yield exhibited a high genotypic coefficient of variation along with moderate to high heritability coupled with a high genetic gain, suggesting the implication of additive gene action. The number of spikes, spikes weight, and thousand kernel weight were significantly and positively correlated with grain yield at both phenotypic and genotypic levels. Path analysis results showed that spikes weight is an important route through which most of the measured traits influenced indirectly grain yield. Lines L1, L20, L28, L16, and L18 exhibited a sizeable grain yield advantage, which suggests they are potential candidates for future release and could be incorporated into the wheat breeding programs as parents to improve yield in the rainfed environments of Algeria

This study aimed at evaluating the expected gains from selection obtained based upon direct, indirect, and index-based selection in a set of 599 bread wheat lines. The experiment was carried out at the experimental field of INRAA institute, Setif research unit (Algeria), in a Federer augmented block design including three controls. A wide range of genetic variability was observed among lines for the eleven traits assessed. The results indicated that index-based selection and selection based on grain yield expressed higher expected genetic gain than direct and indirect mono-trait-based selection. The best 15 selected lines exhibited higher grain yield than the control varieties, and they were clustered in three groups that contrasted mainly for the flag-leaf area, thousand-kernel weight, biomass, and harvest index. The index-based selection appears as a useful tool for the rapid selection of early filial generations, enriching selected breeding materials with desirable alleles and reducing the number of years required to combine these traits in elite varieties.