Wheat rheological and Mixolab quality in relation to cropping systems and plant nutrition sources

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of cropping systems [integrated (INT) vs. organic (ORG)] and plant nutrition sources (synthetic in INT vs. approved organic in ORG) on analytical and rheological quality traits of winter wheat and its productivity. The results after 16 years of field experiments were evaluated. Pre-crop for winter wheat was N-fixing crop. Grain yield of winter wheat (6.8 t ha<sup>–1</sup> in INT, 6.5 t ha<sup>–1</sup> in ORG) did not differ significantly, while plant nutrition sources had an equal and positive effect on the yield. Crude protein quantity was higher in INT system by about 0.2%. The farinograph dough development time and dough stability were the longest for ORG and fertilised treatments. Mixolab quality indicators showed a clear distinction between ORG and INT systems and fertilisation in the protein and starch characteristics of the grain. The ORG reported longer Mixolab stability of the dough, mainly on fertilised treatment (8.8 min). Starch characteristics – torque C4 (amylolytic activity) and torque C5 (starch retrogradation) were higher for ORG system. Torque C2, protein weakening, was not affected by the cropping system. ORG system has the potential to achieve consistent, high-quality yields with significantly lower reliance on external inputs.

Winter Wheat Mixtures Influence Grain Rheological and Mixolab Quality

“…The combinations of winter wheat varieties affected the stability of winter wheat flour. According to Lacko- Bartošová et al (2021), growing winter wheat in organic farming (8.83 min) and Tran et al (2020) (9.76 min) the stability was higher than in our results (5.14 min). However, a lower stability value when growing winter wheat organically without fertilizer of 3.19 min was found in the study of Lacko-Bartošová et al (2021).…”

“…According to Lacko- Bartošová et al (2021), growing winter wheat in organic farming (8.83 min) and Tran et al (2020) (9.76 min) the stability was higher than in our results (5.14 min). However, a lower stability value when growing winter wheat organically without fertilizer of 3.19 min was found in the study of Lacko-Bartošová et al (2021). Different cultivation conditions affected the resistance to dough kneading of wheat flour.…”

“…The slope α, related to protein thermal weakening and indicative of dough strength (Leszek et al, 2016), was significantly dependent on single and mixture components. The lower slope α confirmed lower protein quality (Lacko- Bartošová et al, 2021). The slope α of Illusion and Lorien mixtures was lower than other treatments.…”

“…Strong wheat flour has a Torque C2 value higher than 0.4 Nm. If this number is between 0.5 and 0.6 Nm, it indicates high protein quality, a higher ability of gluten to resit heating, and stronger gluten network, according to Lacko- Bartošová et al, (2021). There was a positive correlation between wet gluten and Torque C2 but no significant difference (r = 0.38) (Table 5).…”

“…A complementary solution may be the development of alternative farming methods. Mixtures of cultivars may help to stabilize yields and increase the quality of wheat (Ceseviciene et al, 2009;Konvalina et al, 2009;Vrtilek et al, 2016;Vidal et al, 2020;Lacko-Bartošová et al, 2021).…”