Abstract
In this study, 36 Spanish wheat genotypes (five modern commercial cultivars, four cultivars introduced after the green revolution and 27 landraces from northwestern Spain) were evaluated. Grain (yield, specific weight, protein content and falling number) and flour (yield, protein content, Zeleny index, wet gluten and gluten index) properties were analyzed. Dough behaviour during mixing (DoughLAB) and handling (alveograph) was also considered. An evolution in grain and flour properties was observed over time. In modern cultivars, grain yield was improved owing to higher grain production. In landraces, higher grain yields were related to larger grain size. Unlike in landraces, an inverse correlation between grain yield and protein content was found in modern cultivars. In addition, because of their high protein quality, modern cultivars surpassed landraces in bread-making properties. Landraces showed considerable variability in protein quality and scored lower curve configuration ratio values than other cultivars with similar strength. Cultivars introduced after the green revolution reached the highest levels of bread-making quality, a feature attributable to their high protein quality.
Highlights
The primitive cultivars, landraces and wild relatives of crop plants constitute a pool of useful genetic variability generally required for the effectiveness of breeding programs (Blum et al, 1987; Valkoun, 2001; Juhász et al, 2003)
The modern cultivars showed the highest values for grain yield and landraces the lowest
Marked differences were observed between landraces and modern cultivars, especially in protein content and in bread-making characteristics
Summary
The primitive cultivars, landraces and wild relatives of crop plants constitute a pool of useful genetic variability generally required for the effectiveness of breeding programs (Blum et al, 1987; Valkoun, 2001; Juhász et al, 2003). It is thought that old cultivars or landraces are better adapted to an ecological production (low-input and organic farming systems) than modern cultivars because the latter’s usual yield advantage is negated under low-fertility conditions (Shroyer and Cox, 1993). This seems to open interesting new avenues for further study since organic production has increased in recent years due to growing consumer demand (Guarda et al, 2004). It is observed that new bread wheat cultivars grown in Spain have traditionally been imported, principally French and Italian. Evaluation of wheat cultivars from different sources spanning the entire 1900s enables breeders to determine how changes in agronomic and end-use quality characteristics associated with improved grain yield and higher end-use quality have occurred over the course of roughly a century
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