Landrace groups of bread wheat, Triticum aestivum.

Bread wheat was introduced in the Old World some 8000 years ago. Owing to local specific natural and human selection a landrace spread over a large area fragmented into locally adapted landraces. These related landraces can be grouped again in a landrace group indicating their evolution from a common source. It is advocated that greater effort be devoted to research of relatedness of crops as bread wheat, other wheats, rye, barley, and oats. The results will help to explain the evolution of these crops and that of their landraces. Examples are given of two landrace groups of bread wheat, formerly available in the Netherlands