Evolutionary Wheat Populations in High-Quality Breadmaking as a Tool to Preserve Agri-Food Biodiversity

Abstract

Plant biodiversity preservation is one of the most important priorities of today’s agriculture. Wheat (Triticum spp. L.) is widely cultivated worldwide, mostly under a conventional and monovarietal farming method, leading to progressive biodiversity erosion. On the contrary, the evolutionary population (EP) cultivation technique is characterized by mixing and sowing together as many wheat genotypes as possible to allow the crop to genetically adapt over the years in relation to specific pedoclimatic conditions. The objective of this study was to assess the nutritional, chemical and sensory qualities of three different breads obtained using different organic EP flours, produced following a traditional sourdough process and compared to a commercial wheat cultivar bread. Technological parameters, B-complex vitamins, microelements, dietary fibre and phenolic acids were determined in raw materials and final products. Flours obtained by EPs showed similar characteristics to the commercial wheat cultivar flour. However, significant differences on grain technological quality were found. The breads were comparable with respect to chemical and nutritional qualities. Overall, the sensory panellists rated the tasted breads positively assigning the highest score to those produced with EPs flours (6.75–7.02) as compared to commercial wheat cultivar-produced bread (cv. Bologna, 6.36).

Suitability of Improved and Ancient Italian Wheat for Bread-Making: A Holistic Approach

“…Except for Giovanni Paolo, the W values of the studied genotypes are in the same range as the old Italian durum varieties but lower than in modern Italian varieties [ 42 ]. The baking industry requires high W values (>180 10 −4 J) combined with a balanced P/L index (0.40–0.50) [ 47 ]. Following these references, none of the studied genotypes are suitable for good bread-making performance.…”

Study on the Effect of Microwaved Brewer’s Spent Grains on the Quality and Flavor Characteristics of Bread

“…The sensory evaluation team consisted of 10 experienced food students (age 20~30 years, male to female ratio 4:6). Each sample provided for the sensory evaluation was a single bread baked on the same day, complete single bread, and bread slices with a thickness of about 10 mm, which were evaluated for the crust color, crust texture, crumb color, crumb structure, taste, aroma, mouthfeel, and overall preference of the bread; the scoring rules and scuffing ranges are shown in Supplementary Materials-Table S2 [22], and the overall preference was expressed by the 9-point scale method. Members of the sensory evaluation team relieved fatigue by drinking purified water between the tastings of each set of samples.…”

The Contribution of Minor Cereals to Sustainable Diets and Agro-Food Biodiversity

“…Spaggiari et al [ 10 ] characterized three common wheat evolutionary populations (EP), a cultivation technique characterized by mixing and sowing many wheat genotypes together to allow the crop to adapt genetically over several years in relation to specific pedoclimatic conditions. The nutritional, chemical, and sensory qualities of three different breads obtained using organic EP flours that were produced following a traditional sourdough process were investigated.…”