Expansion of Aegilops cylindrica (Poaceae) in agrocenoses of cereals: threats to food security

A brief overview of the current state of expansion of Aegilops cylindrica in agrocenoses of grain crops (especially wheat) in Ukraine and the world is presented. Based on our analysis of available evidence and literature data, as well as our own observations in Ukraine, it is shown that these processes pose a real threat to food security, which is facilitated by several factors. Since representatives of the genus Aegilops are quite closely related to the genus Triticum (they belong to the same tribe, Triticeae, and were the donor of one of the subgenomes of hexaploid wheat), this causes a rather high similarity of plants of these genera, in particular Aegilops cylindrica and Triticum aestivum, in their ecological parameters and requirements, physiological processes and reactions, which significantly complicates weed control. Possible exchange of genetic material between the two species could lead to genetic erosion of wheat cultivars and the emergence of herbicide-resistant genetic lines of weeds, although the available evidence for this remains quite contradictory. The search for solutions of the problem should be based on an integrated approach considering and combining data, methods, and approaches from ecology, phytocoenology and phytosociology, physiology, and biochemistry, phylogenetics and genetics, as well as applied plant breeding and agricultural management.