Effect of irrigation, fertiliser type and variety on grain yield and nutritional quality of spelt wheat (Triticum spelta) grown under semi-arid conditions

Juan Wang; Marcin Barański; Gultakin Hasanaliyeva; Recep Korkut; Hassan Ashraa Kalee; Alice Leifert; Sarah Winter; Dagmar Janovska; Adam Willson; Bronwyn Barkla; Per Ole Iversen; Chris Seal; Paul Bilsborrow; Carlo Leifert; Leonidas Rempelos; Nikolaos Volakakis

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129826

Effect of irrigation, fertiliser type and variety on grain yield and nutritional quality of spelt wheat (Triticum spelta) grown under semi-arid conditions

Food Chem. 2021 Oct 1:358:129826. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129826. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Authors

Juan Wang¹, Marcin Barański², Gultakin Hasanaliyeva³, Recep Korkut⁴, Hassan Ashraa Kalee⁵, Alice Leifert⁶, Sarah Winter⁶, Dagmar Janovska⁷, Adam Willson⁸, Bronwyn Barkla⁹, Per Ole Iversen¹⁰, Chris Seal¹¹, Paul Bilsborrow¹², Carlo Leifert¹³, Leonidas Rempelos¹⁴, Nikolaos Volakakis¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China; Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK; Human Nutrition Research Centre, Public Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK.
² Laboratory of Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pasteura 3, Warsaw 02-093, Poland. Electronic address: m.baranski@nencki.edu.pl.
³ Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK; Department of Sustainable Crop and Food Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, Universita Catollica del Sacro Cuore, I-29122 Piacenza, Italy.
⁴ Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK; Erzincan Horticultural Research Institute, Mail Box 18, 24060 Erzincan, Turkey. Electronic address: recep.korkut@tarimorman.gov.tr.
⁵ Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK; Field Crop Department, College of Agriculture, University of Kirkuk, Kirkuk, Iraq.
⁶ Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK; Geokomi plc, P.O. Box 21, Sivas Festos, GR70200 Crete, Greece.
⁷ Research Institute of Crop Production, Drnovská 507/73, 161 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic. Electronic address: janovska@vurv.cz.
⁸ Southern Cross Plant Science, Southern Cross University, Military Rd., Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia. Electronic address: adam.willson@scu.edu.au.
⁹ Southern Cross Plant Science, Southern Cross University, Military Rd., Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia. Electronic address: bronwyn.barkla@scu.edu.au.
¹⁰ Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Department of Haematology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: p.o.iversen@medisin.uio.no.
¹¹ Human Nutrition Research Centre, Public Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK. Electronic address: chris.seal@newcastle.ac.uk.
¹² Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK. Electronic address: paul.bilsborrow@newcastle.ac.uk.
¹³ Southern Cross Plant Science, Southern Cross University, Military Rd., Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia; Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: carlo.leifert@gmail.com.
¹⁴ Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK. Electronic address: leonidas.rempelos@newcastle.ac.uk.
¹⁵ Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK; Geokomi plc, P.O. Box 21, Sivas Festos, GR70200 Crete, Greece. Electronic address: nvolakakis@gmail.com.

PMID: 33933964
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129826

Abstract

Previous studies reported higher antioxidant and mineral micronutrient concentrations in organic compared to conventional wheat flour, but the reasons are poorly understood. Here we report results from a long-term, factorial field experiment designed to assess effects of variety choice, supplementary irrigation and contrasting fertilization regimes used in organic and conventional production on the nutritional quality and yield of spelt wheat grown in a semi-arid environment. Long-straw (Oberkulmer, Rubiota, ZOR) varieties had 10-40% higher grain Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn concentrations, while the modern, short straw variety Filderstolz had 15-38% higher grain antioxidant activity. Supplementary irrigation and the use of manure instead of mineral NPK as fertilizer had no substantial effect on the nutritional composition of spelt grain, but increased grain yields by ~ 150 and ~ 18% respectively. Overall, this suggests that breeding/variety selection is the most promising approach to improve the nutritional quality of spelt grain in semi-arid production environments.

Keywords: Antioxidants; Fertilisation; Grain yield; Irrigation; Mineral micronutrients; Nutritional quality; Phenolics; Spelt wheat varieties.

MeSH terms

Agricultural Irrigation / methods
Antioxidants / analysis
Fertilizers*
Flour / analysis
Greece
Manure
Micronutrients / analysis
Minerals / analysis
Nutritive Value*
Species Specificity
Triticum / chemistry*
Triticum / growth & development*

Substances

Antioxidants
Fertilizers
Manure
Micronutrients
Minerals