EVALUATION OF THE COMPOSITION OF WINTER WHEAT GRAINS GROVN IN LATVIA AND NORWAY

Abstract

Wheat is one of the major grains in the diet of the world’s population and thereforeit may have a great impact on human health. The yield and chemical compositionof grains can vary greatly due to genetic and environmental factors. The aim of thepresent study was to assess how different climatic conditions affect the chemicalcomposition of wheat grains of the same genotipe. The field trials were establishedin Stende (Latvia) and at Apelsvoll (Norway). Wheat varieties used were ‘Edvins’,‘Ellvis’ and ‘Skagen’ In the studied samples the content of protein, amino acids,1000 grain weight, hectolitre weight and falling number were determined. Theprotein content in the grains ranged from 8.9% to 11.8% in organic fields and from10.0 to 13.1% in conventional fields and differed between the varieties. The proteincontent in the samples of the same variety differed significantly due toenvironmental conditions. The difference in protein content was greater in theorganic fields. The 1000 kernel weight in the wheat grain samples varied from 39.9to 49.2 and depended on the variety and the growing place. The ratio of essentialamino acids to the total content of amino acids (in %) ranged from 30.8 to 33.3% inthe conventional growing system and from 30.5 to 32.9% in the organic growingsystem. Significant difference between the varieties was not detected.