Perspective on wheat yield and quality with reduced nitrogen supply

Wheat is an important cereal crop with a high demand for nitrogen (N) fertilizer to enable grain protein accumulation, which is necessary for baking and processing quality. Here perspectives for the development of improved wheat genotypes with higher yield stability, better grain quality and N use efficiency to lower environmental impacts are discussed. The development of improved wheat genotypes, for example lacking storage proteins that do not contribute to baking quality (e.g. by genome editing), in combination with appropriate N fertilizer management to prevent N losses into the environment, underpin a novel approach to improving nitrogen use efficiency. This approach may be particularly applicable to wheats grown for animal feed which have lower quality and functionality requirements

Training grapevines generates a metabolomic signature of wine

Zurowietz A, Lehr PP, Kleb M, et al. Training grapevines generates a metabolomic signature of wine. Food chemistry. 2021;368: 130665.Training systems are an option to handle the pronounced apical dominance of grapevines and to influence diverse traits of the corresponding wine. However, it is still unclear if different training systems generate signatures in the metabolome of the wine. By an untargeted metabolomics approach using (SPME) GC-MS wine (volatiles) and leaves were evaluated. Different training directions such as vertical shoot positioning systems, hanging shoot systems, and minimal pruning systems were distinguishable in wine. It was shown, that different training systems generate a metabolomic signature in the wine which was more pronounced than in leaves. Moreover, the sensory analysis showed some changes in the aroma of the different training systems. Thus, the influence of the training system ranges from the leaf metabolome to the wine metabolome. Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd