Spelt Wheat: An Alternative for Sustainable Plant Production at Low N-Levels

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture strives for maintaining or even increasing productivity, quality and economic viability while leaving a minimal foot print on the environment. To promote sustainability and biodiversity conservation, there is a growing interest in some old wheat species that can achieve better grain yields than the new varieties in marginal soil and/or management conditions. Generally, common wheat is intensively studied but there is still a lack of knowledge of the competitiveness of alternative species such as spelt wheat. The aim is to provide detailed analysis of vegetative, generative and spectral properties of spelt and common wheat grown under different nitrogen fertiliser levels. Our results complement the previous findings and highlight the fact that despite the lodging risk increasing together with the N fertiliser level, spelt wheat is a real alternative to common wheat for low N input production both for low quality and fertile soils. Vitality indices such as flag leaf chlorophyll content and normalized difference vegetation index were found to be good precursors of the final yield and the proposed estimation equations may improve the yield forecasting applications. The reliability of the predictions can be enhanced by including crop-specific parameters which are already available around flowering, beside soil and/or weather parameters.

Differences in Processing Quality Traits, Protein Content and Composition between Spelt and Bread Wheat Genotypes Grown under Conventional and Organic Production

“…From the beginning of the 20th century, the cultivation of spelt wheat declined and was suppressed by higher-yielding, free-threshing bread wheat varieties [ 1 ]. Recently, a new interest for production and expansion of spelt wheat have been appeared due to its significance in the production of healthy food products [ 3 ], mostly originated from organic fields, due to its capability to grow at organic and low input fields [ 4 ], higher protein [ 5 , 6 ] and gluten content in comparison to bread wheat [ 7 ].…”

Yield and Chemical Composition of Raw Material from Meadow Arnica (Arnica chamissonis Less.) Depending on Soil Conditions and Nitrogen Fertilization

“…Currently, special attention is given in agriculture to the wide-scale adoptions of lowinput, soil-friendly, and resource-conserving agronomic practices, which are imperative for reducing carbon emissions and nitrogen losses from agricultural soil and reducing eutrophication. Sustainable agriculture strives for maintaining or even increasing productivity, quality, and economic viability, while leaving a minimal footprint on the environment [72,73]. Currently, in the field production of medicinal plants, it is necessary to reduce the doses of mineral fertilizers and pesticides [74].…”

The Effect of Species and Cultivation Year on Phenolic Acids Content in Ancient Wheat

“…Despite their long cultivation history, today they are grown only locally on small areas [7]. Although the ancient wheat species have lower grain yields [8], they continue to attract growing interest because of their tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses such as diseases [9,10], drought [11], and soil nutrient shortage [12]. At the same time, the consumption of ancient wheat species has been linked to the health benefits, partly attributed to the exceptionally high content of certain phytochemicals, especially phenolic acids [13][14][15].…”

“…Spelt, emmer and particularity einkorn wheat could be suitable for producing food products with enhanced content of phenolic compounds and may play an important role in human nutrition [29]. Considering moderate nitrogen requirements [12] and potentially higher resistance to some fungal diseases [9], ancient wheat species could be useful in organic agriculture in which both mineral fertilisers and chemical pesticides are not allowed [30]. This might be not only beneficial for the consumers' health, but also for the environment [31].…”