Comparative Assessment of Agro-Morphological and Quality Traits of Ancient Wheat Cultivars Grown under Organic Farming
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Institute of Agronomic Sciences, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 949 76 Nitra, Slovakia
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Department of Agroecosystems, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Branišovská 1645/31a, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Agriculture 2022, 12(9), 1476; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12091476
Submission received: 30 July 2022
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Revised: 10 September 2022
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Accepted: 13 September 2022
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Published: 15 September 2022
(This article belongs to the Section Crop Production)
Abstract
:The re-introduction of ancient wheat species into agricultural systems requires a multidisciplinary research approach. Morphological and yield-forming traits are often used as the basis for evaluating and improving crop productivity, but an understanding of the association of these traits with grain quality properties is also essential. The present study was established to understand the performance of old and new cultivars and breeding lines of hulled wheat species by analyzing the selected agro-morphological and quality traits to determine the variability and correlations among them. The results indicated that the stem length of the emmer and the spelt was comparable (100–101 cm), but the impact of the growing year on the variance of this trait was the highest (93%), with different responses of cultivars. The maximum value of grain weight per spike (1.70 g), the highest thousand grain weight (56.3 g) and the highest share of large-sized grains (57.7%) were found in the emmer, indicating the potential for increased grain yield. The lowest protein quantity was reported for the emmer (11.2%), for which wet gluten (WG) quantity was also found to be the lowest (6.0%). Protein quantity correlated with stem length for the spelt, while for the emmer, with spike length. In spite of the higher gluten index of the emmer (60.4%) compared to the spelt (33.5%), the very low Zeleny index of the emmer (10.2 mL) together with low WG may have a negative impact on the baking quality of the emmer. Even in non-fertilized soil, the emmer is at risk of lodging despite its height and favorable agro-morphological traits.
1. Introduction
Food demand is a global issue, with the latest estimates indicating that the global crop consumption will increase from 100 to 110 per cent between 2005 and 2050 [1]. Along with other crops, wheat is one of the most widely produced cereal crops, accounting for more than 40% of cereal calories consumed directly by humans [2]. It also serves as a critical source of calories, protein, vitamins and dietary fiber in human diets [3]. As a result, wheat production significantly impacts world food security. In the last two decades, ancient wheats have been rediscovered mainly due to their potential health benefits (anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties), increasing consumer demand for products with higher sensory and nutritional characteristics as a response to increased incidence of chronic diseases attributable to diet [4]. The major types of commercially available ancient–hulled wheat species with different ploidy levels are einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. ssp. monococcum, diploid, 2n = 14) with A genome, emmer (Triticum dicoccon Schrank, tetraploid, 2n = 28) with A and B genomes, and spelt wheat (Triticum spelta L., hexaploid, 2n = 42) with A, B and D genomes. These are three cultivated hulled wheat species that serve as a link between the cultivated (bread and durum wheat) and wild wheat [5]. Furthermore, einkorn and emmer were the first crops domesticated approximately 12,000 years ago in the Near East and were cultivated on marginal land. Along with this, spelt wheat is characterized by a remarkable adaptation to a broader range of environments owing to its ability to survive in harsh environments and poor soils [3,6,7]. Although using ancient wheats has some drawbacks, such as low yields, a tendency to lodge and relatively poor dough workability, it also offers numerous opportunities for biodiversity preservation, expansion and the development of a wide range of specialty products with superior nutritional and sensory qualities [8]. In recent years, farmers, bakers and consumers have increased the demand for hulled wheat species for a variety of reasons, including: (i) farmers seeking crop diversification [5], crops with limited fertilizer requirements, better adaptability to low input conditions, marginal areas or organic agriculture and greater tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, pests and diseases [9,10]; (ii) bakers seeking specialty products that will allow them to compete with industrial bakeries, with a preference for products with high organoleptic and nutritional qualities [11]; (iii) consumers seeking products with higher nutritional value, distinct taste and flavor, and health benefits [4,12]; (iv) traders encouraging marketing actions that help the local market compete with the global market [11]. Consequently, this increased demand requires more information and research about the agronomic performance, quality characteristics and nutritional benefits of hulled wheat. The most significant trait is grain yield, which is a complex trait consisting of two major components: the number of productive tillers per unit of land area and grain weight per spike, further divided into sub-components, namely the number of fertile spikelets per spike, grains per spike and thousand kernel weight, which are responsible for an increase in yield and enhance the competitive ability of crops to cope with weeds, even under stress conditions. Most of the quantitative trait loci for kernel number components were coincident with those for kernel weight. Increased kernel number was associated with decreased weight, implying that they are both inversely proportional. Furthermore, to achieve maximum grain yield, the grain number per unit area and individual kernel weight should be increased [13]. Moreover, morphological and yield-related traits have frequently been utilized as a criterion for evaluating phenotypic variability and as the basis for improving crop productivity. Plant height, tillering ability, canopy architecture, total biomass production, number of spikes per unit area, grains per spike and thousand grain weight are all associated with crop yield [14]. Other agronomic traits, such as biomass, harvest index, plant architecture, adaptability, grain size distribution and stress tolerance, also have an indirect impact on crop yield. As a result, these are the most essential and comprehensive traits that reflect the environmental interaction with all growth and developmental processes that occur throughout the life cycle [15]. Traditionally, morphological traits are also used to determine genetic diversity and classify the germplasm. For the purpose of increasing yield through selection programs, several researchers contend that knowledge on the associations, such as the genotypic and phenotypic correlation between yield and its component qualities, is essential [16]. Direct selection of yield-related traits that are simpler to assess has shown to be an efficient yield improvement strategy [17]. An appropriate action at this stage would help save these valuable genetic resources and provide opportunities to meet the future challenges of the growing demand for nutritional security [18]. There is a need to develop, or at least identify, genotypes that can perform adequately by choosing specific traits, such as kernel weight, spike length, kernels per spike, etc., without extra chemical input (fertilizers) or other external sources [14]. Understanding the correlation between growth and developmental, physiological and yield-related traits, as well as other contributing characters, helps in developing breeding programs from a selection, which would not only boost farmer livelihoods but also support genetic resources for crop production. Considerable breeding efforts have already been achieved in spelt, unlike in einkorn and emmer. Longin and Wurschum [19] observed highly significant genetic variances for almost all agronomic and disease resistance traits in the germplasm of spelt wheat, and a significantly negative correlation between yield and plant height (r = −0.56) was determined. To develop the breeding strategies, knowledge of the genetic variation, heritability and correlation across distinct traits will benefit multi-trait selection gains. Ancient wheats are important sources of agricultural diversification because of their extensive genetic variability to increase food security in the context of climate change. These are appropriate for broad agricultural systems with high stress levels where conventional wheat cultivars fail to grow. In order to analyze different ancient wheat cultivars, an evaluation of the agronomic, processing, nutritional traits and breeding efforts would be required.
Additionally, further multidisciplinary research is required regarding the comparison between agronomic traits and indirect quality traits of modern and ancient wheats. The quality traits, such as the ash content, total protein, dry gluten, gluten index, Zeleny index and falling number, provide information about the potential wheat baking quality. The gluten index is a parameter that evaluates gluten strength, implying that the gluten index truly defines the technical flour quality [20]. Common wheat is ideal for bread making due to its flour properties, and when mixed with water, the viscoelastic dough is formed with high a gas-holding capacity. In contrast, ancient wheat flour has a softer dough with low elasticity and high extensibility because of poor gluten quality [21]. The protein content is also of crucial importance and is related to gluten strength, thus allowing the prediction of its industrial quality [22,23]. In general, the total protein content consists of around 80% of gluten-forming proteins [24]. A positive correlation existed between wet gluten content and protein content; on the other hand, higher gluten index value enhanced dough development and had a negative correlation with protein content and wet gluten content [25]. Such type of study will be helpful to explain the correlations between the agro-morphological traits and indirect baking qualities between common wheat and ancient wheats.
Hence, comparison analyses between ancient wheat cultivars will help in gaining awareness about the best variety to grow according to its required nutritional composition and will also play a key role in yield production with a proper understanding of agro-morphological traits, which are responsible for crop productivity and dealing with environmental stresses. In the scientific literature, it is still a common belief that hulled wheat cultivation should be focused on marginal areas. There is little scientific contribution on the agronomic performance and grain quality of these Triticum species in rain-fed lowland productive areas under organic farming conditions.
Therefore, the main objective of this present study was to investigate and compare the performance of old and new cultivars and breeding lines of hulled wheat species with that of bread wheat for selected agro-morphological and quality characteristics to determine the variability and correlations among them to obtain valuable information that will be helpful for the re-introduction of emmer by growers who engage in organic farming and can also be implemented in future breeding programs, as explained above.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Field Trials, Experimental Design, Plant Material
Field experiments were conducted at the experimental base of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovakia (48°19′N, 18°07′E). The elevation of the experimental area is 177–178 m above sea level, with a continental climate. The area of the experimental site belongs to a warm agro-climatic region, an arid subregion with predominantly mild winter with average long-term (1951–2000) annual precipitations of 547.6 mm. The average long-term temperature is 9.9 °C, and during the vegetative period, it is 16.4 °C. The experimental field was located on a Haplic Luvisol developed on proluvial sediments mixed with loess. Winter spelt, emmer and einkorn were cultivated under organic farming conditions without fertilization and chemical treatment within the common pea–hulled wheat–spring barley crop rotation. The experiment was arranged as a randomized complete block design in four replicates. The experimental plot consisted of 8 rows of 10 m in length with an inter-row spacing of 0.125 m. The sowing rate of the spelt and emmer (hulled) was 160-170 kg/ha and 75–80 kg/ha for einkorn. Triticum aestivum (winter form) was also grown under organic farming conditions in the same experimental area. The sowing rate was 200 kg/ha. Basic soil cultivation for all Triticum species was carried out by ploughing to a depth of 0.20 m; mechanical weed control methods were applied during the vegetative period. Experimental plots of hulled wheat were hand harvested at maturity (grain moisture content below 14%). The quantitative and qualitative traits of Triticum species were analyzed during three consecutive growing periods (2014/15–2016/17). The meteorological conditions in the three growing seasons were differentiated (Figure S1). The autumn of the first growing year was warm to very warm, followed by a normal spring, and the maturation period (June, July) was warm and extremely warm. A deficiency of precipitation was recorded in June (extremely dry) and July. The second growing year was characterized by a normal and warm autumn and from normal to cold spring months. A warm to very warm maturation period was accompanied by extremely low (June) and extremely high (July) precipitation. The last growing period was dry, with an extremely dry May and a very dry June. Moreover, the spring was warm, and June was extremely warm.
The study included six cultivars of spelt (Oberkulmer Rotkorn, Ostro, Ebners Rot-korn, Altgold, Franckenkorn, Rubiota), four cultivars and two breeding lines of emmer (Agnone, Guardiaregia, Farvento, Molise sel Colli, PN 6-37, PN 4-41), one commercially available cultivar of einkorn (Ebners) and one bread wheat cultivar (Laudis). Plant material was acquired from the following institutions: Saatbau (Linz, Austria), South Bohemia University (České Budějovice, Czech Republic), the University of Molise (Campobasso, Italy) and the Research Institute of Plant Production (Piešťany, Slovak Republic).
2.2. Agro-Morphological Traits
These traits were measured during all experimental years in three replicates. The total number of tillers and number of productive tillers (PT in pc) were measured on 1 m2 before harvest. Stem length (StL in cm), spike length (SpL in cm), number of fertile spikelets (FS in pc), number of grains per spike (pc), weight of grain per spike (GwS in g, 14% moisture content) were measured on 30 representative plants per plot in three replicates. Plants were randomly selected, avoiding the outer two rows in the plot. Spike compactness (SC) was calculated by dividing the total number of spikelets by spike length. The harvest index (HI) as a share of grains on total above-ground biomass in % at 14% moisture content was calculated.
2.3. Grain Quality Traits
After harvesting by hand, the spikes of hulled wheat were dehulled on the laboratory machine KMPP 300 (JK Machinery, Czech Republic). Next, the samples were cleaned by hand, removing all shrunken, broken grains and other foreign material. Grain quality traits, such as 1000 grain weight (TGW in g), were determined, and grain size distribution was evaluated for all samples in three replicates. TGW was determined by counting 2 × 500 g on a mechanical seed counter (Dipos, Czech Republic), weighted and converted to 1000 grain weight. Grain size distribution was determined by sieving 100 g of cleaned samples on analytical sieve shakers (Retsch GmbH, type AS 200, Germany). The grains of samples were divided into fractions according to the different thicknesses of sieve openings. The grains with diameters larger than the size of the openings were retained by the sieve, while smaller-diameter grains passed through the sieve. Large (>2.8 mm), medium (2.5–2.8 mm), small (2.2–2.5 mm) and the remaining (<2.2 mm) grains were determined and calculated as a percentage of the total weight of the sample.
2.4. Indirect Baking Quality
Indirect baking quality indicators were determined in whole-grain meals in four replicates. The grain samples were milled using an FQC mill (Kapacitív, KKT Hungary). Wet gluten quantity (WG) and gluten index (GI) were analyzed by Glutomatic 2200 and Centrifuge 2015 (Perten Instruments, Sweden) according to ICC 155. The Zeleny index (ZI) was determined using Shaker—Type SDZT4 apparatus (Santec, Slovakia) by Standard Method ICC 116/1. Protein quantity (PQ) was calculated from the determination of total nitrogen using the Kjeltec 1002 System (FOSS Tecator AB, Hὄganặs, Sweden), based on N × 5.7 (expressed in dry matter).
2.5. Statistical Analysis
Experimental data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA); the F-test determined significant differences between the factors (growing years, cultivars, replications and interactions). In order to test the mean significance level, data were further subjected to Fisher’s least significant difference (LSD). Additionally, to test the dependent and independent variables, data were applied to evaluate the strength of the correlation between the parameters under study. Correlations were considered significant when Pearson´s correlation coefficient achieved a significance level of p < 0.01. The statistical analyses were carried out by STATISTICA version 10.0 (StatSoft, Tulsa, OK, USA). The coefficients of variation (CV) were calculated as the ratio of standard deviation to the mean in %.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Agro-Morphological Traits of Wheat Species and Cultivars
All the tested species of wheat significantly affected all the evaluated agro-morphological traits (Table 1 and Table 2). Stem length, spike length, number of fertile spikelets and spike compactness were measured only for hulled wheat species. In spite of the lowest sowing rate of einkorn, the highest number of productive tillers (p < 0.05) before harvesting was determined for this species, followed by common wheat, spelt and emmer. According to the ANOVA results, the cultivars explained 60.5% of the total variation for productive tillers and 16.1% for the growing year, and the interaction of cultivars × growing year was also significant at p < 0.001 (Table 3). There were significant differences found between the cultivars; the lowest number of productive tillers was observed for the new emmer breeding line PN 4-41. The coefficients of variation (CV) varied from 7.5% to 17.8% among the wheat cultivars (Table 4), indicating a low to medium degree of variability. For spelt Altgold and emmer Agnone, the CV were under 10%, which can be considered a high degree of stability.
The stem length did not differ substantially between the emmer and spelt, with mean values of 100.1 cm and 101.3 cm, respectively; however, the shortest stem was measured for einkorn (92.8 cm). There were substantial variances across cultivars, with emmer PN 4-41 achieving the most extended stem length (116.8 cm). The growing season had a considerable influence, accounting for more than 93% of the overall variance in stem length. Moreover, the shortest stem was reported in the 2017 growing year, with a value of 82.6 cm and a difference of 28.2 cm as compared to the 2015 growing year. Significant interaction, i.e., cultivars × growing year, indicated that cultivars responded differently to environmental conditions and were better suited to specific environments. Diversification of agriculture brings new demands and concerns regarding the genotype (G) × environment (E) interaction of all actors in the agricultural sector, such as farmers, consumers, policy makers, and is based not only on agro-ecological but also socio-economic criteria. The goal is to adapt G to a wide range of E rather than adapt E to G by standardizing E [26]. The coefficients of variation across the cultivars varied from 8.9 to 18.5%, similar to the productive tillers. It is worth noting that emmer PN 4-41, with the lowest number of productive tillers per m2, nevertheless had the longest stem length. Ancient wheats are usually tall plants, and therefore, lodging represents a serious limit for the production of high yields. At our experimental fields, lodging incidence was assessed by visual evaluation before harvest. Despite no differences in the stem length between spelt and emmer, all emmer cultivars and breeding lines and also einkorn were lodged before harvest at 80 to 90 %, whereas spelt did not lodgeat all. Longin and Wurschum [19] did not recommend plant height for spelt lower than 100–120 cm because straw yield is also important. Additionally, emmer and einkorn are tall plants with increased risk of lodging even in non-fertilized soils. It has been observed that the reduction in plant height must be a major objective in breeding programs. Plant height and lodging exhibited a high heritability in their experiment. Both variables had a significantly negative correlation with hulled yield. As a result, the advantages of ancient wheat are documented under low soil fertility and marginal conditions with low fertilization requirements. Lodging is a complex phenomenon influenced by many factors, such as rain, wind, soil type, plant nutrition, crop husbandry, seeding rate and others. Therefore, exploiting plant height to reduce the lodging risk should not be the only strategy. The lodging-related traits that support the plant (stem and anchorage strength; length, diameter, wall width of basal internodes) must also be strengthened [27]. Our findings did not confirm a negative correlation between plant height and yield, although it was determined that a high positive correlation was observed between stem length and grain weight per spike for einkorn (r = 0.82). This discrepancy can be attributable to the different genotypes, locations, soil climatic conditions and cropping systems with differentiated inputs. The effect of climate conditions on plant height of 20 emmer breeding lines was also documented by Pagnotta et al. [9], with 17 cm differences between the years due to drought (the average plant height was 100 cm).
In contrast to stem length, the ANOVA results revealed that cultivars explained 85.1%, 83.0% and 97.2% of the total variation for spike length, number of fertile spikelets and spike compactness, respectively, while the growing year explained 11.3%, 11.6% and 1.1 %. Except for the number of fertile spikelets per spike, the interaction between the cultivar and the growing year was significant. The coefficients of variation were under 10% for all cultivars, showing a high degree of stability for spike length, fertile spikelets and spike compactness. As expected, the significantly highest spike length was determined for all spelt cultivars (mean 12.2 cm), the shortest for einkorn (6.6 cm), and the emmer was in the middle (8.5 cm). When compared to the spike length, the number of fertile spikelets showed an opposite trend. Significant differences were found across species, with the lowest number of fertile spikelets per spike achieved by T. spelta, the highest by T. monococcum, and T. dicoccon being intermediate. However, even though the differences in fertile spikelets between the cultivars of T. dicoccon and T. spelta were significant, the ANOVA results did not strictly differentiate the cultivars among these two species. Spike compactness was significantly the lowest for all spelt cultivars, followed by emmer, with einkorn showing the highest value of 4.1.
According to the correlation analysis, spike length was negatively correlated with spike compactness for spelt (r = −0.74, Table 5); the number of fertile spikelets was correlated with spike compactness for both emmer and spelt (r = 0.86, r = 0.70, respectively), indicating the importance of fertile spikelets number to spike compactness. However, the number of fertile spikelets negatively correlated with TGW (r= −0.60) and HI (r= −0.77) for emmer. Grain weight per spike (GwS) is one of the most crucial traits for the grain yield of cereal crops. Significant differences were determined among all Triticum species, with the lowest value for einkorn (0.59 g), the highest for emmer (1.70 g), followed by spelt (1.40 g) and common wheat (1.14 g). All cultivars of emmer achieved significantly higher GwS, over 1.5 g, compared to other T. species and cultivars. According to the ANOVA results, 57.1% of the total variation can be explained by the growing year, whereas the cultivars’ contribution was 37.1%. However, CV was the highest for common wheat (24.6%), followed by emmer (19.4%). Spelt cultivars achieved the lowest CV (9.3%). Oberkulmer Rotkorn had the highest degree of stability (CV = 5.9%), followed by emmer Molise Colli (CV = 8.1%). Several studies confirmed the lower yields of ancient wheat compared to common wheat [21,28,29,30] and also observed the yield decline of spelt and emmer at the level of 7.8% to 56.0%. Rachon et al. [30] revealed that the yield of spelt and emmer was stable, regardless the weather conditions, under the high-input technology. On the contrary, the yield was dependent on the agro-meteorological conditions for the high-yielding wheat (common and durum). This finding may be explained by the genetically lower habitat requirements of ancient wheat. The harvest index was significantly highest for T. aestivum (0.44), followed by emmer (0.42), spelt (0.36) and einkorn (0.32). According to the ANOVA outcomes, the differences between the cultivars were significant; spelt cultivar Franckenkorn achieved a HI of 0.40, emmer PN 6-37 and emmer Guardiaregia with a HI of 0.45 overcome T. aestivum. In the ANOVA variation, the share of the cultivars was almost 75%, and the growing year represented 16.3%. Along with this, a significant correlation was also found between the HI and TGW for the emmer.
3.2. Indirect Baking Quality Parameters of Triticum Species and Cultivars
The grain quality parameters varied significantly among the T. species and cultivars (Table 6 and Table 7). TGW was highest for emmer (56.3 g), followed by spelt (51.7 g), common wheat (37.4 g) and einkorn (26.6 g). Most cultivars showed significant variations, with emmer Guardiaregia and PN 6-37 having the greatest TGW. In the experiment of Rachon et al. [30], even lower values of TGW were obtained under the conditions of a conventional system, with 33.9 g for emmer cv. Bondka and 33.1 for spelt cv. ‘Wirtas’ with no significant difference. Another study conducted by Kulathunga et al. [31] showed lower values of TGW for the emmer (33.6 g), spelt (38.3 g) and T. aestivum (33.9 g), while for einkorn, the TGW was similar (28.0 g). The share of cultivars in the total variation (ANOVA) was 64.3%, also significant for the growing year (32.4%). The coefficients of variation were the highest for common wheat (19.0%) and emmer (18.7%). However, cultivars Farvento, Agnone, Molise Colli and PN 4-41 with medium and lower values of TGW (from 45.5 to 57.4 g) achieved lower CV and a high degree of stability. It was observed that all spelt cultivars had CV lower than 10 % and a low degree of variability.
Wheat milling properties depend mainly on the mechanical properties of the kernel (e.g., bulk density, vitreosity, TGW and kernel size). In addition to these, other characteristics, such as test weight, shape, density, kernel size and size uniformity, must also be taken into consideration for milling value evaluation. The kernel size influenced the total flour yield and the flour ash content [32]. According to the grain size analysis results (Table 7), most emmer grains were large sized (57.7%). By comparison, the share of large-sized grains in spelt and common wheat was significantly lower, with values of 47.7% and 44.9%, respectively. Despite significant differences, the results of ANOVA did not strictly differentiate among the cultivars of emmer and spelt. Additionally, the large grains’ share of emmer ranged between 47.1 and 68.7 %, and between 28.0 and 63.2 % for spelt. The share of medium-sized grains also differed significantly among the T. species, with the opposite result for large grains. The highest share of medium-sized grains was determined for spelt (36.6%) and common wheat (33.6 %), which was significantly higher than for emmer (24.8 %). Both spelt and emmer (84.3 % and 82.5 %, respectively) had the highest large and medium-sized grains content, whereas T. aestivum (78.4 %) had the significantly lowest value. The lowest share of small grains was found for emmer (4.4 %) and the highest for T. aestivum (13.8 %). The grain size of einkorn significantly differed from other T. species; the majority of the grains were smaller than 2.2 mm (remainders, 99.9 %), and only 0.1 % were small grains (2.2–2.5 mm). These values can significantly affect the acceptance of einkorn by the milling industry. Grains with higher bran layer content are more difficult to grind and have lower flour extraction rates. Grain fractions ranging from 3.1 to 3.5 mm produced the highest flour yield while containing the lowest ash content [33,34].
The crucial determinants of wheat bread-making quality are the grain protein concentration and its quality. Genetic and environmental factors affect wheat bread-making quality [21]. Crude protein quantity (PQ) differed significantly among the T. species, with the highest values for spelt (14.0%) and einkorn (14.1%) and significantly lower for emmer (11.2%) and common wheat (11.8%). Despite the significant differences among the cultivars of spelt and einkorn, all showed a higher concentration of crude protein than the cultivars of emmer and common wheat. PQ was significantly influenced by the growing year; its share of total variation represented 66.8%, while the share of cultivars was 28.0% (Table 8). Shewry and Hey [3] found no evident effect of the cultivar but a strong effect of N fertilization on PQ and an inverse correlation between the yield and PQ. In comparison to nitrogen concentration, the influence of the year on yield was less evident. To increase the grain protein, N sources need to be applied. In an organic system, agronomic strategies, N sources, fertilizer application and management should be adapted to enhance crop productivity without any grain quantity and quality losses [35]. For spelt, the crude protein quantity was significantly correlated with stem length (r = 0.80), suggesting that cultivars with longer stems had higher PQ. In addition, for this species, a significant but medium correlation between GwS and crude protein (r = 0.59) was determined. On the contrary, there was a strong negative correlation for einkorn between stem length and PQ (r = −0.91). In the case of emmer, a medium positive correlation between spike length and PQ was determined. According to Rachon et al. [30], ancient wheat species were able to maintain their high protein concentration under high input level technology, with the highest PQ for emmer (19.2%), followed by spelt (16.6%), and common wheat (13.1%).
The physico-chemical properties of the wheat grain are represented by wet gluten content (WG) and its quality. Gluten proteins are responsible for the unique bread-making properties of wheat. On average, spelt was significantly much more abundant in wet gluten quantity (35.0%), followed by common wheat (22.9%), einkorn (8.9%) and emmer (6.0%). According to ANOVA, the last two species had no significant differences. In this present study, all cultivars of spelt achieved higher wet gluten quantity than the other cultivars of T. species. The share of cultivars in the total variation was the highest (83.7%) of all the quality parameters tested. The effect of the growing year and the interaction of cultivar × growing year were also significant. WG was the parameter with the highest variation throughout the entire experiment, mainly for emmer (CV = 143.3%), especially for cultivars Agnone and Farvento, followed by einkorn (CV = 75.3%), spelt (12.9%) and common wheat (5.2%). Within the spelt cultivars, the highest degree of stability was achieved for Ebners Rotkorn, Ostro and Altgold. The findings of Rachon et al. [30] revealed that emmer cv. Bondka (41.8%) had the highest wet gluten content, followed by spelt cv. Wirtas (39.1%), and this emmer cultivar had a relatively low CV of only 2.9 per cent, in contrast with our findings. Additionally, in a set of different cultivars and environments, Tran et al. [36] reported higher values of WG for emmer (37.9%), probably due to a wide variety of forms as a result of long emmer cultivation in a large range of eco-geographical conditions [11]. In a comparative study of Geisslitz et al. [37], common wheat had the lowest PQ (9.6 %), gluten content (80.4% mg/g), gliadins content and gliadins/ glutenins ratio compared to spelt, emmer and einkorn. Gluten and gliadins/glutenins were more influenced by the wheat species than by the growing locations; by contrast, the PQ was influenced almost equally by the wheat species and location. These results may confirm the differences in the performance of cultivars in particular environments. Our indings can be corroborated with the findings of Pruska-Kedzior et al. [38] where in comparison with common wheat, the gluten proteins in spelt appeared to be more extensible and less elastic. Additionally, according to Escarnot et al. [39], when compared to wheat, spelt appeared to have higher percentages of several nutrients, including magnesium, phosphorus, iron, copper and zinc, as well as higher protein content with a more favorable amino acid profile, higher lipid content and a more palatable fatty acid profile, which influenced the amount of wet gluten. Spelt wheat may be added to bread to boost its nutritional value [40].
Gluten index (GI) is related to the strength and elasticity of gluten. It indicates the quality behavior of the flour, and it is not dependent on the protein quantity in the grain. The optimum values for baking purposes are between 65 and 80. Values lower than 65 indicate that the flour is not of ideal quality for bread production [41]. Highly significant differences were noticed in the T. species, growing years and their interaction. The highest value, as expected, was observed in common wheat (82.3), followed by emmer (60.4, range 47.0–77.2), einkorn (50.4) and spelt (33.5, range 20.4–42.0). None of the ancient wheat species achieved over 80%. All the cultivars of emmer exhibited a higher GI than the cultivars of spelt. As per GI, the gluten quality of all spelt cultivars was weak. Interestingly, a strongly negative correlation was found between wet gluten and GI for both emmer and einkorn (Table 5), confirming the suggestion that higher protein quantity is not related to the quality. Preiti et al. [42] also confirmed a negative correlation between WG and GI for common wheat. The impact of the growing year on total variation was the lowest (4.9%) of all the quality evaluation parameters, while the impact of the cultivar × growing year interaction was the highest (35.1%), indicating the different responses of cultivars to the growing conditions. The degree of stability for this quality trait was low; CV was highest for einkorn (48.2%), followed by emmer (48.0%), spelt (45.1%) and common wheat (15.2%).
The Zeleny index (ZI) is regarded as one of the most important tests for the discrimination of wheat samples on the basis of gluten quantity and quality [43]. Wheat flour with a ZI lower than 25 mL is less suitable for baking purposes. In the present study, the differences among the T. species were highly significant; the value of over 25.0 mL was determined for common wheat (28.9 mL), followed by spelt (21.9 mL, range 18.4–25.4 mL), einkorn (14.0 mL) and emmer (10.2 mL, range 9.6–11.4 mL). Contrary to the GI, all cultivars of emmer had the lowest ZI (significantly). This result, together with very low WQ, may have a negative impact on the direct baking quality of the emmer cultivars under study. According to Bernas et al. and Majewska et al. [44,45], lower values of the ZI are typical for spelt (11.0–27.0 mL), and for winter emmer, the sedimentation values ranged from 11.5 mL to 17.0 mL [46]. Compared to the GI, the Zeleny index exhibited lower variability, along with CV ranging from 8.3% (common wheat) to 20.7% (einkorn). Emmer and spelt were within this range; some cultivars of both species indicated CV below 10% (Molise Colli, PN 4-41, PN 6-37, Agnone, Franckenkorn, Altgold). The highest share of the total variation of ZI was noted for cultivars (78.8%), whereas a much lower percentage of variation was observed for the C × GY interaction (3.2%) compared to GI. In our previous study [47], the relations between indirect rheological quality parameters and direct baking test of spelt and emmer were investigated. Both the emmer and spelt cultivars varied in flour and rheological (farinograph and Mixolab) characteristics; therefore, the produced bread also differed in the specific bread volume (SBV), along with emmer having a significantly lower value. The PQ parameter did not correlate with SBV for the cultivars of emmer and spelt. The most suitable parameters for the prediction of spelt bread-making quality and higher SBV were ZI and Mixolab slope α. For emmer, the parameters of WG, Mixolab C2 and farinograph dough stability were related to direct bread-making quality. These differences can be attributed to the glutenin/ gliadin ratio, which correlated with SBV and the rheological parameters [48].
4. Conclusions
Based on the results presented in this study, together with the findings of other researchers, we can conclude that all the investigated wheat species had a significant impact on all the evaluated agro-morphological and quality traits and their variability. The significant responses of cultivars and breeding lines demonstrated their suitability for specific environments. The crucial characteristic—grain weight per spike—revealed notable variations across all Triticum species, with einkorn having the lowest value and emmer having the greatest. Emmer cultivars and breeding lines were proved as a potential source of genetic diversity for increased grain yield as a result of the highest grain weight per spike, thousand grain weight and the share of large grains. Protein quantity varied greatly among the T. species, with spelt and einkorn having the greatest amounts and emmer and common wheat having much lower levels. Along with this, wet gluten quantity attained maximum value in spelt and lowest in emmer, and the gluten index quality trait was highest for common wheat, followed by emmer, einkorn and spelt. The highest ZI was also found in common wheat, followed by spelt, einkorn and lowest in emmer. The investigated emmer cultivars and breeding lines combined high grain yield with very low wet gluten quantity. It was discovered that emmer had a high risk of lodging, even in non-fertilized soils. Therefore, it is concluded that the selected traits will be helpful for the advancement and better understanding of future breeding programs, particularly for emmer, to maximize production, with specific grain characteristics to satisfy the increased demand for diverse cereal-based products, with better adaptability of the crop to low input conditions and tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Furthermore, this research provides information and deeper understanding in ancient wheat cultivation, which can create new demands and concerns for all agricultural actors, such as farmers, processors, and consumers, and it is based not only on agro-ecological but also on socio-economic factors.
Supplementary Materials
The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/agriculture12091476/s1, Figure S1: Mean monthly air temperatures (°C) and precipitation (mm) in the growing years and multi-year averages (normal 1961–1990); Table S1: The set of data used for the evaluation of the effect of species, cultivars, growing year on agro-morphological and quality traits in ancient wheat.
Author Contributions
M.L.-B.: conceptualization, funding acquisition, methodology, writing—original draft, supervision; L.L.-B.: methodology, data curation, writing—original draft; J.M.: validation; A.K.: writing—original draft; M.L.-B., L.L.-B., J.M., A.K.: investigation, writing—review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research was financially supported by the Operational Program Integrated Infrastructure, cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (project SmartFarm 313011W112, 60%) and by the Ministry of education. Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic (project VEGA No.1/0218/20, 40%). This research was also funded by the National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic (NSP).
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
All data generated or analyzed in this study are included in this published article and its Supplementary Information Files.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Radoslav Ražný and Joanna Korczyk-Szabó for their technical support.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Table 1.
Agro-morphological traits of wheat species and cultivars.
| T. Species, Cultivars | Productive Tillers (pc.m−2) | Stem Length (cm) | Spike Length (cm) | Number of Fertile Spikelets (pc) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T. aestivum mean ± SD | 539.1 ± 69.3 | b | B | - | - | - | ||||||
| T. dicoccon mean ± SD | 402.7 ± 52.9 | D | 100.1 ± 14.9 | A | 8.5 ± 0.9 | B | 17.9 ± 3.4 | B | ||||
| Guardiaregia | 436.4 ± 74.7 | d | 96.8 ± 13.7 | de | 7.5 ± 0.6 | h | 15.2 ± 1.5 | efg | ||||
| PN 4–41 | 367.1 ± 40.5 | f | 116.8 ± 15.4 | a | 8.8 ± 0.5 | f | 23.5 ± 1.2 | a | ||||
| Molise Colli | 420.0 ± 45.0 | de | 96.0 ± 12.1 | ef | 8.2 ± 0.6 | g | 15.7 ± 0.7 | de | ||||
| PN 6-37 | 409.8 ± 47.8 | def | 99.8 ± 8.9 | d | 8.3 ± 0.6 | g | 15.6 ± 1.0 | def | ||||
| Agnone | 388.0 ± 29.0 | ef | 90.8 ± 10.7 | g | 8.4 ± 0.9 | g | 16.4 ± 1.2 | cd | ||||
| Farvento | 394.7 ± 52.6 | def | 100.5 ± 16.4 | cd | 9.7 ± 0.6 | e | 21.1 ± 1.1 | b | ||||
| T. spelta mean ± SD | 434.7 ± 61.3 | C | 101.3 ± 15.1 | A | 12.2 ± 1.0 | A | 15.2 ± 1.1 | C | ||||
| Franckenkorn | 486.7 ± 72.9 | c | 95.6 ± 12.4 | ef | 11.2 ± 0.3 | d | 16.3 ± 0.5 | cd | ||||
| Ebners Rotkorn | 412.4 ± 57.1 | def | 100.3 ± 15.3 | d | 12.4 ± 0.7 | b | 14.3 ± 1.0 | h | ||||
| Altgold | 430.2 ± 40.9 | de | 97.0 ± 12.9 | de | 11.6 ± 0.6 | c | 16.6 ± 0.4 | c | ||||
| Ostro | 439.6 ± 45.1 | d | 104.7 ± 15.4 | b | 12.9 ± 1.1 | a | 14.8 ± 0.6 | fgh | ||||
| Rubiota | 432.0 ± 53.7 | de | 105.8 ± 15.6 | b | 12.4 ± 0.6 | b | 14.9 ± 0.5 | efgh | ||||
| Oberkulmer Rotkorn | 407.1 ± 72.3 | def | 104.2 ± 19.3 | bc | 13.0 ± 0.8 | a | 14.5 ± 0.5 | gh | ||||
| T. monococcum mean ± SD | 624.0 ± 90.6 | a | A | 92.8 ± 15.9 | fg | B | 6.6 ± 0.4 | i | C | 22.9 ± 2.0 | a | A |
| Year | ||||||||||||
| 2015 2016 2017 | 457.6 a 442.8 ab 425.4 b | 110.8 a 106.9 b 82.6 c | 10.5 a 9.8 c 9.9 b | 17.7 a 16.8 b 16.7 b | ||||||||
All values are means ± standard deviations (SD) for three replicates and three years of experiment. Values in columns among species (capital letters) and cultivars followed by the same letter are not significantly different at p < 0.05.
Table 2.
Agro-morphological traits of wheat species and cultivars (spike traits, yield components).
| T. Species, Cultivars | Spike Compactness | Grain Weight per Spike (g) | Harvest Index | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T. aestivum mean ± SD | - | 1.14 ± 0.28 | e | C | 0.44 ± 0.05 | fg | A | ||
| T. dicoccon mean ± SD | 2.52 ± 0.32 | B | 1.70 ± 0.33 | A | 0.42 ± 0.04 | B | |||
| Guardiaregia | 2.43 ± 0.11 | D | 1.83 ± 0.43 | a | 0.45 ± 0.03 | a | |||
| PN 4-41 | 3.08 ± 0.13 | B | 1.79 ± 0.30 | a | 0.35 ± 0.02 | f | |||
| Molise Colli | 2.27 ± 0.10 | E | 1.61 ± 0.13 | b | 0.43 ± 0.02 | bc | |||
| PN 6-37 | 2.27 ± 0.10 | E | 1.89 ± 0.44 | a | 0.45 ± 0.02 | a | |||
| Agnone | 2.36 ± 0.11 | de | 1.53 ± 0.21 | bc | 0.42 ± 0.01 | c | |||
| Farvento | 2.74 ± 0.08 | C | 1.54 ± 0.20 | bc | 0.41 ± 0.01 | d | |||
| T. spelta mean ± SD | 1.67 ± 0.17 | C | 1.40 ± 0.13 | B | 0.36 ± 0.03 | C | |||
| Franckenkorn | 1.85 ± 0.11 | F | 1.44 ± 0.15 | cd | 0.40 ± 0.02 | d | |||
| Ebners Rotkorn | 1.57 ± 0.10 | G | 1.36 ± 0.15 | d | 0.35 ± 0.01 | f | |||
| Altgold | 1.87 ± 0.08 | F | 1.39 ± 0.14 | d | 0.38 ± 0.03 | e | |||
| Ostro | 1.55 ± 0.08 | G | 1.42 ± 0.14 | d | 0.35 ± 0.02 | f | |||
| Rubiota | 1.61 ± 0.11 | G | 1.45 ± 0.14 | cd | 0.35 ± 0.02 | f | |||
| Oberkulmer Rotkorn | 1.54 ± 0.10 | G | 1.35 ± 0.08 | d | 0.35 ± 0.02 | f | |||
| T. monococcum mean ± SD | 4.10 ± 0.37 | A | A | 0.59 ± 0.07 | f | D | 0.32 ± 0.02 | g | D |
| Year | |||||||||
| 2015 | 2.29 a | 1.66 a | 0.39 b | ||||||
| 2016 | 2.24 ab | 1.39 b | 0.38 c | ||||||
| 2017 | 2.22 b | 1.30 c | 0.40 a | ||||||
All values are means ± standard deviations (SD) for three replicates and three years of experiment. Values in columns among species (capital letters) and cultivars followed by the same letter are not significantly different at p < 0.05.
Table 3.
ANOVA mean square per source of variation as percentage of total for agro-morphological traits.
Table 3.
ANOVA mean square per source of variation as percentage of total for agro-morphological traits.
| Source of Variation | Degree of Freedom | Productive Tillers | Grain Weight per Spike | Harvest Index | Degree of Freedom | Stem Length | Spike Length | Fertile Spikelets | Spike Compactness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cultivar (C) | 13 | 60.5 *** | 37.1 *** | 74.9 *** | 12 | 4.2 *** | 85.1 *** | 83.0 *** | 97.2 *** |
| Growing year (GY) | 2 | 16.1 * | 57.1 *** | 16.3 *** | 2 | 93.6 *** | 11.3 *** | 11.6 *** | 1.1 * |
| C × GY | 26 | 11.1 *** | 3.5 *** | 5.5 *** | 24 | 0.8 *** | 1.6 *** | 1.0 ns | 0.6 * |
*** significant at p < 0.001 and * p < 0.05, ns—not significant.
Table 4.
Coefficients of variation for agro-morphological and grain quality traits of T. species and cultivars.
Table 4.
Coefficients of variation for agro-morphological and grain quality traits of T. species and cultivars.
| T. Species, Cultivars | PT | StL | SpL | FS | SC | GwS | HI | TGW | PQ | WG | GI | ZI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T. aestivum | 12.8 | 24.6 | 11.4 | 19.0 | 0.8 | 5.2 | 15.2 | 8.3 | ||||
| T. dicoccon | 13.1 | 14.9 | 10.6 | 19.0 | 12.7 | 19.4 | 9.5 | 18.7 | 10.7 | 143.3 | 48.0 | 14.7 |
| Guardiaregia | 17.1 | 14.1 | 8.0 | 9.9 | 4.5 | 23.5 | 6.7 | 10.7 | 13.7 | 25.0 | 36.3 | 19.8 |
| PN 4-41 | 11.0 | 13.2 | 5.7 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 16.8 | 5.7 | 8.6 | 8.1 | 60.6 | 25.8 | 5.2 |
| Molise Colli | 10.7 | 12.6 | 7.3 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 8.1 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 9.8 | 56.3 | 12.6 | 5.2 |
| PN 6-37 | 11.7 | 8.9 | 7.2 | 6.4 | 4.4 | 23.3 | 4.4 | 12.6 | 13.3 | 66.7 | 81.6 | 7.1 |
| Agnone | 7.5 | 11.8 | 10.7 | 7.3 | 4.7 | 13.7 | 2.4 | 8.0 | 6.0 | 132.9 | 64.4 | 1.0 |
| Farvento | 13.3 | 16.3 | 6.2 | 5.2 | 2.9 | 13.0 | 2.4 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 129.6 | 14.8 | 19.3 |
| T. spelta | 14.1 | 14.9 | 8.2 | 7.2 | 10.2 | 9.3 | 8.3 | 8.9 | 12.1 | 12.9 | 45.1 | 16.4 |
| Franckenkorn | 15.0 | 13.0 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 5.9 | 10.4 | 5.0 | 8.3 | 14.4 | 10.7 | 32.4 | 7.7 |
| Ebners Rotkorn | 13.8 | 15.3 | 5.6 | 7.0 | 6.4 | 11.0 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 7.4 | 1.8 | 22.4 | 16.9 |
| Altgold | 9.5 | 13.3 | 5.2 | 2.4 | 4.3 | 10.1 | 7.9 | 6.1 | 8.6 | 8.4 | 4.9 | 6.5 |
| Ostro | 10.2 | 14.7 | 8.5 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 9.9 | 5.7 | 6.1 | 6.9 | 3.0 | 36.5 | 14.9 |
| Rubiota | 12.4 | 14.7 | 4.8 | 3.4 | 6.8 | 9.7 | 5.7 | 5.0 | 16.0 | 14.9 | 32.3 | 17.3 |
| Obelkulmer Rotkorn | 17.8 | 18.5 | 6.2 | 3.4 | 6.5 | 5.9 | 5.7 | 3.2 | 15.2 | 13.7 | 50.0 | 13.2 |
| T. monococcum | 14.5 | 17.1 | 6.1 | 8.7 | 9.0 | 11.9 | 6.3 | 11.7 | 4.3 | 75.3 | 48.2 | 20.7 |
Table 5.
Correlation analysis of plant, spike traits, yield components and grain quality traits of spelt, emmer (bold) and einkorn (italics).
Table 5.
Correlation analysis of plant, spike traits, yield components and grain quality traits of spelt, emmer (bold) and einkorn (italics).
| StL | SpL | FS | SC | GwS | HI | TGW | PQ | WG | GI | ZI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| StL | 0.43 | 0.49 | 0.35 | 0.57 0.39 0.82 | −0.52 −0.60 | 0.48 | 0.80 −0.91 | 0.58 0.95 | 0.98 | 0.53 −0.82 | |
| SpL | 0.70 | −0.74 | −0.45 | 0.53 | 0.63 | 0.37 | 0.39 | ||||
| FS | 0.70 0.86 | 0.44 | 0.47 −0.77 | −0.50 −0.60 | 0.36 | ||||||
| SC | 0.42 −0.72 | −0.48 −0.65 | |||||||||
| GwS | 0.64 | 0.59 | 0.84 | 0.45 | |||||||
| HI | −0.54 0.69 | −0.35 | |||||||||
| TGW | 0.45 | 0.49 | |||||||||
| PQ | 0.84 0.97 | −0.89 | 0.69 0.96 | ||||||||
| WG | −0.71 −0.95 | 0.48 0.94 | |||||||||
| GI | 0.37 −0.80 |
All correlation coefficients significant at p < 0.01. Abbreviations for the traits: StL—stem length; SpL—spike length; FS—fertile spikelets per spike; SC—spike compactness; GwS—grain weight per spike; HI—harvest index; TGW—thousand grain weight; PQ—crude protein quantity; WG—wet gluten quantity; GI—gluten index; ZI—Zeleny index.
Table 6.
Indirect baking quality parameters of Triticum species and cultivars.
| T. Species, Cultivars | TGW (g) | PQ (% dm) | WG (%) | GI (%) | ZI (ml) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T. aestivum mean ± SD | 37.4 ± 7.1 | g | C | 11.8 ± 0.1 | h | B | 22.9 ± 1.2 | f | B | 82.3 ± 12.5 | a | A | 28.9 ± 2.4 | a | A |
| T. dicoccon mean ± SD | 56.3 ± 10.5 | A | 11.2 ± 1.2 | B | 6.0 ± 8.6 | C | 60.4 ± 29.0 | B | 10.2 ± 1.5 | D | |||||
| Guardiaregia | 67.5 ± 7.2 | a | 10.2 ± 1.4 | l | 1.2 ± 0.3 | l | 71.0 ± 25.8 | c | 11.1 ± 2.2 | h | |||||
| PN 4–41 | 45.4 ± 3.9 | f | 11.1 ± 0.9 | k | 1.5 ± 0.9 | l | 77.2 ± 19.9 | b | 9.6 ± 0.5 | j | |||||
| Molise Colli | 57.4 ± 2.6 | b | 11.2 ± 1.1 | jk | 4.8 ± 2.7 | j | 47.0 ± 5.9 | g | 9.6 ± 0.5 | j | |||||
| PN 6-37 | 68.2 ± 8.6 | a | 11.3 ± 1.5 | j | 17.7 ± 11.8 | g | 48.3 ± 39.4 | fg | 9.8 ± 0.7 | ij | |||||
| Agnone | 52.8 ± 4.2 | d | 11.6 ± 0.7 | i | 7.9 ± 10.5 | i | 67.8 ± 43.7 | d | 10.0 ± 0.1 | i | |||||
| Farvento | 46.6 ± 2.2 | f | 12.2 ± 0.3 | g | 2.7 ± 3.5 | k | 51.3 ± 7.6 | e | 11.4 ± 2.2 | h | |||||
| T. spelta mean ± SD | 51.7 ± 4.6 | B | 14.0 ± 1.7 | A | 35.0 ± 4.5 | A | 33.5 ± 15.1 | C | 21.9 ± 3.6 | B | |||||
| Franckenkorn | 45.8 ± 3.8 | f | 13.2 ± 1.9 | f | 28.9 ± 3.1 | e | 42.0 ± 13.6 | h | 22.0 ± 1.7 | d | |||||
| Ebners Rotkorn | 55.7 ± 1.9 | bc | 13.5 ± 1.0 | e | 33.9 ± 0.6 | d | 22.3 ± 5.0 | j | 21.3 ± 3.6 | e | |||||
| Altgold | 48.9 ± 3.0 | e | 13.9 ± 1.2 | d | 36.8 ± 3.1 | b | 20.4 ± 1.0 | j | 18.4 ± 1.2 | f | |||||
| Ostro | 55.6 ± 3.4 | bc | 14.4 ± 1.0 | b | 36.2 ± 1.1 | c | 34.2 ± 12.5 | i | 21.5 ± 3.2 | e | |||||
| Rubiota | 50.3 ± 2.5 | e | 14.4 ± 2.3 | ab | 36.8 ± 5.5 | ab | 39.9 ± 12.9 | h | 25.4 ± 4.4 | b | |||||
| Oberkulmer Rotkorn | 53.8 ± 1.7 | cd | 14.5 ± 2.2 | a | 37.2 ± 5.1 | a | 42.0 ± 21.0 | h | 22.8 ± 3.0 | c | |||||
| T. monococcum mean ± SD | 26.6 ± 3.1 | h | D | 14.1 ± 0.6 | c | A | 8.9 ± 6.7 | h | C | 50.4 ± 24.3 | ef | B | 14.0 ± 2.9 | g | C |
| Year | |||||||||||||||
| 2015 | 54.8 a | 13.9 a | 21.3 a | 50.4 b | 18.5 a | ||||||||||
| 2016 | 49.9 b | 12.2 b | 16.8 b | 51.9 a | 15.8 c | ||||||||||
| 2017 | 47.9 c | 11.9 c | 21.3 a | 47.0 c | 16.2 b | ||||||||||
All values are means ± standard deviations (SD) for three replicates and three years of the experiment. Values in columns among species (capital letters) and cultivars followed by the same letter are not significantly different at p < 0.05.
Table 7.
Grain quality parameters of Triticum species and cultivars.
| T. Species, Cultivars | Large Grains (>2.8 mm) Content (%) | Medium Grains (2.5–2.8 mm) Content (%) | Large and Medium Grains (> 2.8 + 2.5 mm) content (%) | Small Grains (2.2–2.5 mm) Content (%) | Remainders (<2.2 mm) Content (%) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T. aestivum mean ± SD | 44.9 ± 21.2 | H | B | 33.6 ± 9.6 | d | A | 78.4 ± 11.8 | h | B | 13.8 ± 10.2 | b | A | 7.8 ± 1.8 | g | C |
| T. dicoccon mean ± SD | 57.7 ± 17.1 | A | 24.8 ± 14.1 | B | 82.5 ± 3.7 | A | 4.4 ± 2.9 | C | 13.1 ± 2.1 | B | |||||
| Guardiaregia | 62.0 ± 12.0 | d | 18.9 ± 9.0 | i | 80.9 ± 3.1 | g | 3.4 ± 1.6 | fg | 15.7 ± 1.6 | b | |||||
| PN 4–41 | 47.3 ± 19.9 | g | 33.7 ± 18.1 | d | 81.0 ± 1.9 | g | 5.3 ± 2.5 | e | 13.6 ± 1.0 | c | |||||
| Molise Colli | 65.6 ± 11.0 | b | 20.6 ± 8.9 | h | 86.1 ± 2.8 | c | 2.7 ± 1.5 | h | 11.2 ± 1.9 | e | |||||
| PN 6–37 | 68.7 ± 10.5 | a | 15.4 ± 9.0 | j | 84.0 ± 2.2 | e | 2.3 ± 1.3 | h | 13.6 ± 1.4 | c | |||||
| Agnone | 55.7 ± 13.0 | f | 26.7 ± 9.2 | f | 82.4 ± 4.0 | f | 5.3 ± 3.3 | e | 12.3 ± 1.4 | d | |||||
| Farvento | 47.1 ± 19.5 | g | 33.6 ± 15.5 | d | 80.7 ± 4.1 | g | 7.3 ± 3.1 | d | 12.0 ± 1.5 | d | |||||
| T. spelta mean ± SD | 47.7 ± 14.6 | B | 36.6 ± 11.9 | A | 84.3 ± 6.4 | A | 7.2 ± 7.0 | B | 8.6 ± 2.8 | C | |||||
| Franckenkorn | 28.0 ± 2.3 | k | 47.5 ± 9.8 | b | 75.5 ± 9.1 | i | 16.7 ± 10.0 | a | 7.8 ± 1.4 | g | |||||
| Ebners Rotkorn | 63.2 ± 7.91 | c | 22.8 ± 4.7 | g | 86.1 ± 3.4 | c | 2.9 ± 1.2 | gh | 11.1 ± 3.8 | e | |||||
| Altgold | 42.9 ± 2.6 | i | 42.2 ± 2.4 | c | 85.0 ± 0.8 | d | 5.8 ± 2.9 | e | 9.1 ± 2.4 | f | |||||
| Ostro | 61.3 ± 4.2 | d | 27.4 ± 2.9 | f | 88.7 ± 1.6 | a | 3.4 ± 0.8 | fg | 7.9 ± 1.8 | g | |||||
| Rubiota | 32.8 ± 4.5 | j | 50.5 ± 7.1 | a | 82.9 ± 5.8 | f | 10.5 ± 5.4 | c | 6.6 ± 1.8 | h | |||||
| Oberkulmer Rotkorn | 57.8 ± 2.6 | e | 29.5 ± 3.1 | e | 87.3 ± 1.8 | b | 3.6 ± 1.3 | f | 9.1 ± 2.3 | f | |||||
| T. monococcum mean ± SD | 0.1 ± 0.1 | i | D | 99.9 ± 0.1 | a | A | |||||||||
| Year | |||||||||||||||
| 2015 2016 2017 | 62.8 a 48.2 b 45.2 b | 23.9 b 34.3 a 34.5 a | 86.8 a 82.6 b 79.7 c | 2.9 c 5.0 b 9.9 a | 16.5 a 18.3 b 16.1 a | ||||||||||
All values are means ± standard deviations (SD) for three replicates and three years of the experiment. Values in columns among species (capital letters) and cultivars followed by the same letter are not significantly different at p < 0.05.
Table 8.
ANOVA mean square per source of variation as percentage of total for indirect baking quality traits.
Table 8.
ANOVA mean square per source of variation as percentage of total for indirect baking quality traits.
| Source of Variation | Degree of Freedom | PQ | WG | GI | ZI | TGW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cultivar (C) | 13 | 28.0 *** | 83.7 *** | 59.5 *** | 78.8 *** | 64.3 *** |
| Growing year (GY) | 2 | 66.8 *** | 12.1 *** | 4.9 *** | 17.6 *** | 32.4 *** |
| C × GY | 26 | 5.1 *** | 4.0 *** | 35.1 *** | 3.2 *** | 1.7 *** |
*** significant at p < 0.001.
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Lacko-Bartošová, M.; Lacko-Bartošová, L.; Kaur, A.; Moudrý, J. Comparative Assessment of Agro-Morphological and Quality Traits of Ancient Wheat Cultivars Grown under Organic Farming. Agriculture 2022, 12, 1476. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12091476
AMA Style
Lacko-Bartošová M, Lacko-Bartošová L, Kaur A, Moudrý J. Comparative Assessment of Agro-Morphological and Quality Traits of Ancient Wheat Cultivars Grown under Organic Farming. Agriculture. 2022; 12(9):1476. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12091476
Chicago/Turabian StyleLacko-Bartošová, Magdaléna, Lucia Lacko-Bartošová, Amandeep Kaur, and Jan Moudrý. 2022. "Comparative Assessment of Agro-Morphological and Quality Traits of Ancient Wheat Cultivars Grown under Organic Farming" Agriculture 12, no. 9: 1476. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12091476
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