Durum wheat breeding in Mediterranean environments - influence of climatic&lt;br&gt;variables on quality traits

Nuno Pinheirobr,Benvindo S,Conceiç Gomes,Jos Coutinho,Rita Costa,Ana Almeida

doi:10.9755/ejfa.v25i12.16732

Abstract

Two durum wheat trials were carried out in Mediterranean conditions during 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 growing seasons at Plant Breeding Station-Elvas (Portugal). The experiments were conducted under rainfed conditions however, in 2012, due to extreme drought it was necessary to use artificial irrigation between booting and mid grain filling stage. Thirty durum wheat genotypes were studied and six quality parameters were evaluated: thousand kernel weight (TKW), test weight, vitreousness, protein content, SDS test and pigment content through Minolta CR 300 Colorimeter (L*a*b*) analysis. ANOVA showed that all sources of variation for four quality traits were highly significant (P < 0.001) for both years, except for SDS volume and index b* that were not significant during the two years of trials. Environmental effects showed that total water input during grain filling, appears to affect negatively grain quality by reducing test weight, TKW and semolina yield. Maximum temperatures during the same period reduced test weight, TKW, semolina yield and pigment content (L*), but increased protein content. A negative correlation was found between protein content and test weight and a positive correlation between test weight and semolina yield. Technological trait associated with pasta quality pigment index (b*) was significant different among the genotypes.

Highlights

Durum wheat is considered a minor cereal crop, representing only the 8 to 10% of cultivated wheat around the world (Mohammadi et al, 2011), being an important crop in the Mediterranean basin (Pedro et al, 2011)
Climatic variables Agro-ecological characteristics and climatic data observed during for 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons are shown in Table 2 and Figure 1, which illustrate the kind of climatic variability usual in the Mediterranean region
The maximum temperature, from 25oC to 30oC, that occurred in the first days of grain filling period during 2011, contribute to lower thousand kernel weight (TKW) and test weight reducing grain yield with implications on protein contents in accordance with Williams et al (1986), which reported that durum wheat protein content is inversely correlated with grain yield

Summary

Introduction

Durum wheat is considered a minor cereal crop, representing only the 8 to 10% of cultivated wheat around the world (Mohammadi et al, 2011), being an important crop in the Mediterranean basin (Pedro et al, 2011). Durum wheat cultivation have gradually decreased in some countries in the Mediterranean region such as Portugal, Spain and others due to world policies as well as the fact that high yielding durum wheat cultivars cannot compete with the best bread wheat varieties. Durum wheat is an economically important crop because of its unique features related to grain end use products. It is generally considered the hardiest of all wheats.

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Discussion

Conclusion