Biosystematics of Triticeae: Volume III. Genera: Kengyilia, Douglasdeweya, Agropyron, Australopyrum, and Anthosachne

This book discusses the natural classification and biosystematics of Triticeae and presents the most significant findings of comprehensive studies on the Triticeae, an important tribe in the grass family (Poaceae) that includes major crops such as wheat, barley, rye, and triticale, as well as various forage crops found in different genera. The five-volume Chinese version of Biosystematics of Triticeae was published in 1998, 2004, 2006, 2011, and 2013, and included the 30 genera, two subgenera, 464 species, nine subspecies, and 186 varieties of Triticeae identified to date. This is their English edition.

The volumes cover a wide range of disciplines from traditional taxonomy and cytogenetics to molecular phylogeny. They are designed for biologists, plant breeders, taxonomists, geneticists, biogeographic researchers, historians, biotechnologists, agriculturalists, and evolutionists.

Volume I, Triticum-Aegilops complex focuses on the taxonomy and generic relationships of Triticum and Aegilops, discussing the origin of common wheat as a crop.

Volume II, Genera: Secale, Tritiosecale, Pseudosecale, Eremopyrum, Henrardia, Taeniantherum, Heteranthelium, Crithopsis, and Hordeum highlights a number of genera that are closely related based on their morphological classification and that contain only one unique genome.

Volume III describes perennial genera and species including Kengyilia, Douglasdeweya, Agropyron, Australopyrum, and Anthosachne.

Volume IV addresses perennial genera and species including Stenostachys, Psathyrostachys, Leymus, Pseudoroegneria, and Roegeneria.

Volume V presents perennial genera and species such as Campeiostachys, Elymus, Pascopyrum, Lophopyrum, Trichopyrum, Hordelymus, Festucopsis, Peridictyon, and Psammopyrum.

Professors Chi Yen and Junliang Yang, known as botanists and crop geneticists as well as the founder of biosystematics in Triticeae, have made outstanding contributions to research field of the Triticeae germplasm resource in the world.

Professors Chi Yen and Junliang Yang revealed the transfer of nuclear materials in cell according to conjugation tube in higher plants. They erected a classification system defining the genus and species with genome types in Triticeae, which was known as a significant contribution after Mendel's law of inheritance, Morgan's chromosome theory of heredity, and Hitoshi Kihara's genome theory in Triticeae. They also revised the classification system proposed by Áskell Löve and reclassified about 6100 Triticeae germplasms collected by them, including 193 species from 21 genera. They characterized the chromosome numbers of 40 species, described 10 new species, and named two new genera Kengyilia and Douglasdeweya.

Professors Chi Yen and Junliang Yang used the Triticeae germplasms to improve wheat varieties with high yield, multiple spikelet, and the resistance of pre-harvest sprouting, such as "Yaanzao", "Datouhuang", "Zuyeqing", and "Fan 6". They improved the strategy of convergent hybridization and selected excellent variety "Fan 6" that became the critical parents of wheat in China. The durable resistance to stripe rust of "Fan 6" remained for more than 20 Years.

Professors Chi Yen and Junliang Yang proposed the multiple secondary axis theory, which described the essential nature of organs in Gramineae and other plants.

Thanks to the contributions to the Triticeae, Chi Yen and Junliang Yang were evaluated as important persons in the taxonomic research of the Triticeae by Chairman Professor Roland von Bothmer in the eighth international Triticeae symposium. A new species, Roegneria yenchiana, is named for commemorating Professor Chi Yen.

Professor Bernard R. Baum is currently employed at Ottawa University and has previously served as a senior research fellow in the Eastern Crop and Oil Seed Research Center, Agriculture Canada. He is fellow of the Royal Canadian Academy of Sciences and member of the International Seed Association. In 1966, he was awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award by the United States Department of Agriculture. He served successively as deputy editor in chief of several international journals in the field of plant genetics and classification systems, including Euphytica, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, Canadian Journal of Botany, and Plant Systematics and Evolution. He has published over 260 academic papers and mainly focuses on the research related to classification systems and molecular evolution of cereal-related species such as Triticeae and genus of Avena.