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@WHEATINITIATIVE @WHEATINITIATIVE.BSKY.SOCIAL‬

A Balkan Durum Wheat Panel for Resistance to Mosaic and Streak Viruses under Climate Change

WHEAT GERMPLASM CONSERVATION & UTILIZATION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES │ 24th May 2026 │ Room 6

Ana Velimirović, PhD

Biotechnical Faculty, University of Montenegro

Coauthors: Yu Cai, Heike Lehnert, Jelena Zindovic, Zoran Jovovic, Novo Przulj, Marco Maccaferri, Giacomo Mangini, Mariella Matilde Finetti-Sialer, Jitendra Thakur, Gordana Lastovicka Medin, Perovic Dragan

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A Balkan Durum Wheat Panel for Resistance to Mosaic and Streak Viruses under Climate Change

Why Western Balkan durum wheat landraces matter

Why resistance matters

            • Soil-borne viruses can persist for decades
            • Climate change may favor vector expansion
            • Chemical control is not effective
            • Resistant cultivars remain the most sustainable strategy

Germplasm value

      • Greece 6,000 BC​
      • Balkans, Italy, France and Spain 5,000 BC
      • Western Balkan landraces preserve adaptive diversity

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A Balkan Durum Wheat Panel for Resistance to Mosaic and Streak Viruses under Climate Change

Rogosija: a historical Western Balkan durum wheat gene pool

  • T. monococcum and T. dicoccum the main source of food for the Neolithic and post-Neolithic population in our area​
  • Tetraploid wheat through Greece and Southern Italy through Durres and Primorje at the transition from the old to the new era​
  • Common wheat in the 14th century
  • Rogosija is a historical, underused durum wheat gene pool
  • Tetraploid wheat covered 80% of arable land together with maize

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A Balkan Durum Wheat Panel for Resistance to Mosaic and Streak Viruses under Climate Change

Rogosija - From field cultivation to gene bank conservation

  • In 1972 completely disappeared from production
  • Conservation efforts from 1955
  • 125 accessions collected
  • 1/3 of collection lost due to poor conservation practices
  • Rogosija preserved ex situ in the Montenegro Plant Gene Bank

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  1. Coleoptile: anthocyanin coloration
  2. Plant: growth habit
  3. Frequency of plants with recurved flag leaves
  4. Time of ear emergence
  5. Flag leaf: anthocyanin coloration of auricles
  6. Flag leaf: glaucosity of lower side of leaf blade
  7. Ear: glaucosity
  8. Plant: length
  9. Ear: distribution of awns
  1. Ear: length of awns at tip relative to length of ear
  2. Lower glume: shape of shoulder
  3. Lower glume: width of shoulder
  4. Lower glume: length of beak
  5. Lower glume: curvature of beak
  6. Lower glume:hairiness of external surface
  7. Straw: pith in cross section
  8. Ear: length (excluding awns)
  9. Ear: density
  10. Plant: seasonal type

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Morphological characterization using UPOV descriptors

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A Balkan Durum Wheat Panel for Resistance to Mosaic and Streak Viruses under Climate Change

Morphological diversity of Western Balkan durum wheat landraces

80

durum wheat

landrace accessions

collected across traditional Western Balkan farming areas and preserved in the national gene bank collection

370

differentiated

morphological types

Most accessions displayed 4–6 phenotypes, revealing strong within-landrace heterogeneity.

Balkan durum landraces are not uniform remnants; they are a living reservoir of structured morphological variation for conservation and pre-breeding.

Highest diversity signals

• lower glume beak length

• lower glume shoulder width

• ear awn distribution

• recurved flag leaf frequency

Fixed or low-variation traits such as seasonal type, lower-glume hairiness, straw pith and ear density suggest historical selection or local adaptation.

Trait-group diversity (H′)

Normalized Shannon–Weaver index

Flag leaf

0.74

Lower glume

0.66

Ear

0.57

Plant

0.50

Mean H′ ≈ 0.59 across UPOV morphological descriptors

Implication: morphological characterization identifies adaptive diversity that can be integrated with SNP data to guide conservation, pre-breeding and climate-resilient durum wheat improvement.

Velimirović et al. (2025) Morphological diversity of Western Balkan durum wheat landraces. PeerJ 13:e20068.

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25K SNP diversity and genetic structure of “Rogosija” durum wheat collection

89

Rogosija durum

accessions

old Western Balkan landraces preserved in the Montenegro Plant Gene Bank

6915

high-quality

polymorphic SNPs

used to resolve duplicates, genetic structure and eco-geographic differentiation

Core message

“Rogosija” is not a single uniform landrace, but a structured Western Balkan durum wheat gene pool shaped by local Mediterranean microclimates.

25K SNP genotyping

IBS duplicate screening

PCA + UPGMA structure

Eco-geographic mapping

84% of molecular variance occurred within clusters, indicating broad internal diversity and historical seed exchange.

Genetic structure and origin

Two Balkan clusters clearly separated from foreign cultivars

PCA

Cluster 1

Skadar Lake

continental Mediterranean

Cluster 2

Adriatic coast

maritime Mediterranean

Cluster diversity indices

I

h

PPL

Implication: high-density SNP data can refine gene bank conservation, remove redundancies and identify adaptive diversity for climate-resilient durum wheat breeding.

Velimirović et al. (2023) SNP Diversity and Genetic Structure of “Rogosija”, an Old Western Balkan Durum Wheat Collection. Plants 12:1157.

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Eco-geographic differentiation of Rogosija

  • Skadar Lake micro-area
    • Continental-Mediterranean climate
    • more pronounced high tropical temperatures in the summer period exceeding 37 ° C
    • high probability of occurrence of extremely high temperatures of 40 degrees and more
    • nights very warm-tropical nights.
    • Higher probability of frost and temperatures down to -10°C
    • temperature oscillations and higher amplitude
  • Costal micro-area
    • Maritime-Mediterranean climate
    • maritime influence and thermal circulation of air from the sea does not allow reaching high tropical temperatures.
    • The CNI index is more favorable
    • greater probability of morning dew

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Species represented

  • T. turgidum ssp. durum
  • T. turgidum ssp. turgidum
  • T. turgidum ssp. dicoccon

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Expended the panel adding 77 accessions from JKI gene bank

Svevo

Pescadou

Soldur

Silur

Lloyd

Meridiano

Claudio

Levante

Simeto

Ciccio

Aronde

Monastir

Odisseo

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A Balkan Durum Wheat Panel for Resistance to Mosaic and Streak Viruses under Climate Change

The Balkan Durum Panel

Balkan Durum Panel (BDP) of 167 tetraploid wheat accessions and 16 elite reference cultivars

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A Balkan Durum Wheat Panel for Resistance to Mosaic and Streak Viruses under Climate Change

Germplasm Panel, GBS Genotyping and Population Structure

  • Lower diversity detected in Rogosija collection
  • 64 Rogosija accessions retained for GWAS
  • Heatmap clustering separated METD, PI and cultivars
  • Five genotype groups identified
  • Structure analysis indicated optimal K = 2 or K = 3
  • First two PCoA axes explained 23% and 7% variance

PCoA1 (23%)

PCoA2 (7%)

PCoA1 (23%)

PCoA2 (7%)

A

B

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A Balkan Durum Wheat Panel for Resistance to Mosaic and Streak Viruses under Climate Change

Soil-borne mosaic viruses: why resistance is essential

Target viruses

  • Soil-borne cereal mosaic virus (SBCMV)
  • Soil-borne wheat mosaic virus (SBWMV)

Vector

  • Polymyxa graminis
  • Resting spores persist in soil for decades
  • Field eradication is extremely difficult

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A Balkan Durum Wheat Panel for Resistance to Mosaic and Streak Viruses under Climate Change

Wheat streak mosaic virus: vector-mediated risk under climate change

  • Transmitted by wheat curl mite, Aceria tosichella
  • Volunteer cereals and grasses act as green bridge hosts
  • Warmer conditions may extend vector survival and spread
  • Resistance screening is needed in durum wheat germplasm

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A Balkan Durum Wheat Panel for Resistance to Mosaic and Streak Viruses under Climate Change

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The author gratefully acknowledges the Early Career Researchers (ECR) Travel Grant provided by the EWG-Germplasm of the Wheat Initiative for supporting participation in the 2026 International Wheat Congress.

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          • Biotechnical Faculty, University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro
          • Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Julius Kuehn-Institute, Quedlinburg, Germany
          • Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Biosafety in Plant Biotechnology, Julius Kuehn-Institute, Quedlinburg, Germany
          • The Academy of Sciences and Arts of the Republika Srpska, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
          • Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
          • Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources, National Research Council (IBBR-CNR), Bari, Italy
          • International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, India
    • Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro

Acknowledgment

Funding

    • ICGEB CRP/MNE25-01
    • Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation of Montenegro

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