Selection of winter cereals for organic agriculture

Productivity in agriculture has more than tripled in developed countries since the 1950s. Beyond the success of plant breeding, the increased use of inorganic fertilizers, application of pesticides, and spread of irrigation also contributed to this success. However, impressive yield increases started to decline in the 1980s because of the lack of sustainability. One of the most beneficial ways to increase sustainability is organic agriculture. In such systems the prerequisite of successful farming is the availability of crop genotypes that perform well. However, selection of winter cereals for sub-optimal growing conditions is still neglected, and the organic seed market also lacks of information on credibly tested varieties suitable for organic agriculture

The identification of wheat genetic resources with high dietary fiber content

The quality properties of different variety mixtures and composite cross populations were studied with the aim of identifying genotypes with high dietary fiber content and to cultivate and examine the effect of these components on the end-use quality. Based on the results of a Europe-wide trial, we could detect two populations and variety mixtures which had significantly higher total (TOTAX) and water extractable arabinoxylan (WEAX) content, than most of the studied genotypes, with positive effect on the human health. These populations/mixtures are promising dietary fiber resources and suitable not only for organic but also for conventional farming, especially in Central Europe. The seeds of the best population (Mv Elit CCP) was multiplied to supply it for interested farmers in Hungary in the frame of the European trial on organic heterogeneous materials

Performance and selection of winter durum wheat genotypes in different European conventional and organic fields

Sustainability is a key factor for the future of agriculture. Productivity in agriculture has more than tripled in developed countries since the 1950s. Beyond the success of plant breeding, the increased use of inorganic fertilizers, application of pesticides, and spread of irrigation also contributed to this success. However, impressive yield increases started to decline in the 1980s because of the lack of sustainability. One of the most beneficial ways to increase sustainability is organic agriculture. In such agro-ecosystem-based holistic production systems the prerequisite of successful farming is the availability of crop genotypes that perform well. However, selection of winter durum wheat for sub-optimal growing conditions is still mainly neglected, and the organic seed market also lacks of information on credibly tested winter durum varieties suitable for organic agriculture

Comparison of bread wheat varieties with different breeding origin under organic and low input management

The aims of the study were to compare 37 bread wheat varieties with different breeding origin under conventional and organic farming conditions in Hungary and Austria for three years and to identify traits highly sensitive to management systems that could be separated according to their suggested selecting environments. According to the results, heading date, sensitivity to leaf rust and powdery mildew had high heritability, thus, for economic reasons, it is reasonable to select for these traits in conventional fields even if the selection target is organic agriculture. On the contrary, selection for grain yield, test weight, leaf-inclination and vigorous growth should be done later in the target environment. It was concluded that the selecting environment has measurable effects on the performance of bread wheat varieties. Our results could help organic breeders in their selection work, especially in the continental climatic zone of Europe

Micronutrient Contents and Nutritional Values of Commercial Wheat Flours and Flours of Field-grown Wheat Varieties - A Survey in Hungary

Wheat-based food has great importance in human nutrition: in European countries they provide 20-30% of the daily calorie intake, and additionally, the wholemeal and healthy food becomes even more popular. Mineral content in grains is dependent on genetic and environmental factors (varieties, soil type, geographical location of the growing area, etc.), therefore, it is complicated to estimate how many percentage of the daily micronutrient requirements can be covered by wheat-based products. In this study, copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn) contents of 13 commercial wheat flour products, and the white flour and wholemeal of 24 winter type bread wheat varieties were studied to estimate the nutritional value of these products. All investigated samples were produced in Hungary. Significant variation was revealed in the case of all mineral elements in the different brands of wheat flours. Generally, the white flour enriched with germ showed higher mineral contents than the average values of normal white flours. Furthermore, the wholemeal has higher Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn, but not higher Se contents than the white flours. Mo content was also higher in some brands of white flour than in wholemeal. The investigated winter wheat varieties showed significant differences in the case of Fe, Mn, Se and Zn contents, but none of the varieties showed outstandingly high micronutrient content. The milling process -as it was expected -reduces the concentrations of four elements (Fe 33%; Mn 88%; Zn 71%; Cu 44%); however, the Se and Mo concentrations were not affected significantly. Using the average micronutrient content in the wholemeal of varieties, the daily Mn and Fe requirement can be covered by the consumption of about 250 g wholemeal. Additionally, the daily Mo requirement could be met by the daily consumption of 140-190 g of commercial white or wholemeal flour

Drought stress affects the protein and dietary fiber content of wholemeal wheat flour in wheat/Aegilops addition lines

Wild relatives of wheat, such as Aegilops spp. are potential sources of genes conferring tolerance to drought stress. As drought stress affects seed composition, the main goal of the present study was to determine the effects of drought stress on the content and composition of the grain storage protein (gliadin (Gli), glutenin (Glu), unextractable polymeric proteins (UPP%) and dietary fiber (arabinoxylan, β-glucan) components of hexaploid bread wheat (T. aestivum) lines containing added chromosomes from Ae. biuncialis or Ae. geniculata. Both Aegilops parents have higher contents of protein and β-glucan and higher proportions of water-soluble arabinoxylans (determined as pentosans) than wheat when grown under both well-watered and drought stress conditions. In general, drought stress resulted in increased contents of protein and total pentosans in the addition lines, while the β-glucan content decreased in many of the addition lines. The differences found between the wheat/Aegilops addition lines and wheat parents under well-watered conditions were also manifested under drought stress conditions: Namely, elevated β-glucan content was found in addition lines containing chromosomes 5Ug, 7Ug and 7Mb, while chromosomes 1Ub and 1Mg affected the proportion of polymeric proteins (determined as Glu/Gli and UPP%, respectively) under both well-watered and drought stress conditions. Furthermore, the addition of chromosome 6Mg decreased the WE-pentosan content under both conditions. The grain composition of the Aegilops accessions was more stable under drought stress than that of wheat, and wheat lines with the added Aegilops chromosomes 2Mg and 5Mg also had more stable grain protein and pentosan contents. The negative effects of drought stress on both the physical and compositional properties of wheat were also reduced by the addition of these. These results suggest that the stability of the grain composition could be improved under drought stress conditions by the intraspecific hybridization of wheat with its wild relatives