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The study of origin and domestication of legumes described in this book emerged when it became apparent that while this kind of information is adequate for cereals, the pulses lagged behind. At the end of the 1960s the senior author initiated a study on the chickpea's wild relatives followed by similar attempts for broad bean, fenugreek, common vetch, bitter vetch, and lentil. The junior author joined the project in the late 1980s with a study of the genetics of interspecific hybrid embryo abortion in lentil and later has extensively investigated chickpea domestication and wild peas. While The Quest for Wild Relatives of Cool Season Legumes mainly describes our research findings, pertinent results obtained by others are also discussed and evaluated.
Studying the wild relatives of legumes included evaluation of their taxonomic status, their morphological variation, ecological requirements, exploration of their distribution, and seed collection in their natural habitats. Seeds were examined for their protein profile as preliminary hints of their affinity to the cultigens and plants grown from these seeds were used for establishing their karyotype, producing intra- and interspecific hybrids and analyses of their chromosome pairing at meiosis and fertility. The aim of these investigations was the identification of the potential wild gene pool of the domesticated forms. Assessment of genetic variation among accessions, particularly in the genus Lens, was made by isozymes and chloroplast DNA studies. The main findings include the discovery of the chickpea wild progenitor; studies of lentil in three crossability groups; wild peas proceeded in two lines of study; faba bean and fenugreek and their wild progenitors have not yet been identified; common vetch and its related form were treated here as an aggregate (A. sativa); we found gene flow between members of different karyotypes is possible; bitter vetch and its relation to the domesticated form were established by breeding experiments.
1 The Lens Genus
1.1 Morphology and Taxonomy
1.1.1 Lens Morphology
1.1.2 Key to the Lens species
1.2 Description, Ecology and Distribution
1.2.1 Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris
1.2.2 Lens culinaris ssp. orientalis
1.2.3 Lens ervoides
1.2.4 Lens ervoides in Ethiopia and Uganda
1.2.5 Lens lamottei
1.2.6 Lens nigricans
1.2.7 Lens odemensis
1.2.8 Lens tomentosus
1.3 Genetics of Morphological Variation in Wild Lentils
1.4 Dwarfing Genes in the Genus Lens
1.5 Variation in Molecular Markers
1.6 Chromosome Variation
1.7 Crossability and Cytogenetic Relationships
1.7.1 Genetic Nature of Hybrid Embryo Breakdown in the Genus Lens
1.8 The Wild Gene Pool of Lentil
1.8.1 Potential of the Wild Genetic Resources
1.9 The Species Concept
1.10 Lentil Domestication
1.10.1 Wild Lentil as a Food Source for Prehistoric Humans
1.10.2 The Mystery of Early Lentil Cultivation
1.11 Wild Genetic Stock of the Domesticated Lentil
2 The Annual Species of the Cicer Genus
2.1 Taxonomy of Annual Cicer Species
2.1.1 Key to the Annual Cicer Species
2.2 Morphology of Annual Cicer Species
2.3 The Search for the Wild Progenitor of Chickpea
2.4 Distribution and Ecology of Other Wild Chickpea Annual Species
2.5 Crossability Relationships Among the Annual Chickpea Species
2.6 Economic Potential of Wild Genetic Resources of Chickpea
2.7 The Mystery of Cicer canariense
2.8 Pathosystems of Ascochyta Blight in Chickpea and its Wild Relatives
2.9 Chickpea Domestication
2.9.1 Evidence for Introgression from Domesticated to Wild Chickpea
3. The Pisum Genus
3.1 Morphology and Taxonomy
3.1.1 Key to Pisum Species and Subspecies
3.2 Distribution and Ecology
3.2.1 Pisum fulvum
3.2.2 Pisum sativum ssp.elatius
3.2.3 Pisum sativum ssp. humile
3.2.3.1 Pisum sativum ssp. humile var. syriacum
3.2.3.2 Pisum sativum ssp. humile var. humile
3.3 Crossability and Species Relationships
3.4 Species Relationships in Pisum as Inferred from DNA Sequence Comparisons
3.5 Utilization of Wild Pisum Germplasm for Pea Improvement
3.5.1 Pisum fulvum
3.5.2 Pisum sativum ssp. humile
3.5.3 Pisum sativum ssp. elatius
3.6 Pea Domestication
4 Legumes with No Documented Genetic Relatives
4.1 Faba Bean
4.1.1 Chromosome Numbers and Karyotypes
4.1.2 Seed Protein Profiles
4.1.3 Crossability Experiments
4.1.4 Characterization of the Hypothetical Wild Progenitor of Faba Bean
4.2 Fenugreek
5 Fodder Crops
5.1 Vicia sativa, Aggregate of Common Vetch
5.1.1 Chromosome Variation and the Nature of Interkaryotypic Hybrids
5.1.2 Evolution of Vicia sativa Aggregate
5.1.3 Economic Potential of Vicia sativa Wild Genetic Resources
5.1.4 Polyploidy in the Vicia sativa Aggregate
5.2 Vicia ervilia, Bitter Vetch
Dr. Gideon Ladizinsky serves as professor emeritus of Genetics and Plant Breeding for The Hebew University of Jerusalem. His research interests include evolution of cultivated crops, chromosomal and genetic diversity in wild relatives, the anatomy and genetics of interspecific hybrid embryo abortion, and gene transfer between wild tetraploid oats and the cultivated hexaploid varieties.
