Ability of new durum wheat pure lines to meet yield stability and quality requirements in low input and organic systems

Summary

Low-input production schemes adopted in organic or conventional farms require crop varieties that combine good product quality and high yield stability under non optimal environmental conditions (Gooding et al., 1999). These traits are not yet found among the durum wheat genotypes available in France. Consequently the cultivation of this crop is hardly successful in stockless organic farms in southern France, which are characterised by very low nitrogen resources. Some hopes emerged with the identification of new durum wheat pure lines with a high grain protein content in breeding experiments conducted near Montpellier in 2001 and 2002. The aim of the present work was to confirm and elucidate the origin of the enhanced protein performance of these new lines through a field experiment with nitrogen resources ranging from very low to sub-optimal levels.