Effects of Nitrogen plus Sulfur Fertilization and Seeding Density on Yield, Rheological Parameters, and Asparagine Content in Old Varieties of Common Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Quadratullah Soofizada,Marco Napoli,Antonio Pescatore,Carolina Fabbri,Marco Mancini,Simone Orlandini,Lorenzo Guerrini

doi:10.3390/agronomy12020351

Quadratullah Soofizada, Marco Napoli + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12020351

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Abstract

Numerous epidemiological studies have highlighted the positive effects on health of wholegrain bakery products made from ‘old’ common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties. However, ‘old’ common wheat varieties display poor rheological properties, and there is limited information on its free asparagine (ASN) content, the main precursor to acrylamide during the baking process. This paper evaluates the effects of two seeding density levels (SD: 200 and 350 seed m−2), three nitrogen levels (NL: 35, 80 and 135 kg N ha−1), and two sulfur levels (SL: 0 and 6.4 kg S ha−1) towards improving the grain yield (GY), rheological characteristics, and ASN content of 14 ‘old’ common wheat varieties. SL and SD treatments significantly increased GY without decreasing the protein content (PC), while NL significantly increased the PC without affecting GY. The dough strength (W) increased significantly with increasing SL and NL but was significantly reduced with increasing SD. ASN significantly increased by 111% as NL increased from 35 to 135 kg ha−1, while ASN significantly decreased by 85.1% with the SL treatment. The findings show that 135 kg N ha−1 combined with 6.4 kg S ha−1 can improve the technical performance of ‘old’ wheat wholegrain flours while maintaining the ASN as low as possible.

Highlights

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important cereals worldwide for both human and livestock consumption, contributing towards enhancing the global economy [1,2]
The Y was the dominant factor for grain yield (GY), followed by sulfur fertilization level (SL), Gen and seeding density levels (SD), while the nitrogen fertilization level (NL) did not significantly affect GY (Table 3)
GY was significantly affected by the interaction Y × SD, whilst no interactions between Y × SL and Y × NL, respectively, were found to be statistically significant

Summary

Introduction

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important cereals worldwide for both human and livestock consumption, contributing towards enhancing the global economy [1,2]. Common wheat production amounted to 761 Mt in 2020 [3] and provides protein for the nutrition of both humans and livestock, estimated at around 60 Mt y−1 , as reported in Shewry (2009) [4]. The increase in pollution and food security problems has led us to reconsider common wheat production in terms of productivity and of environmental and human health impacts [11]. Interest in low impact and sustainable agricultural practices, combined with functional (health-promoting) products, has permitted the rediscovery of ‘old’ common wheat varieties, considered to be more suited to unfavorable environmental factors and with improved functional value in comparison to the ‘modern’ varieties [12]

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