On-Farm Testing Of Emmer And Einkorn Landraces Under Organic Conditions In Hungary

Summary

Nowadays even organic agricultural and food systems mostly rely on a few species and within these species only a limited number of varieties. Diversification is key to a more healthy and balanced diet as well as to possible adaptation to the challenges of climate change and newly emerging pests and diseases. Ancient cereals like emmer and einkorn are good alternatives to common wheat, especially under marginal farming conditions. In order to facilitate their cultivation and use, based on a 3-year small plot experiment, the best performing cultivars were selected and re-introduced into on-farm (ÖMKi) and on-station (ATK) trials in 2018, including 9 emmer (7 winter and 2 spring) and 2 einkorn landraces together with 1 registered emmer (as standard) and 3 registered einkorn (Mv Alkor as standard) varieties. The results of the first year of on-farm data show a higher yield of winter emmer cultivars (around 2 t/ha in average), compared to einkorn (1 t/ha in average), some of the landraces being as high yielding as registered varieties of both species. Although locations with their soil quality and agricultural techniques play a major role in the performance of tested cultivars, emmer and einkorn landraces proved to be sustainable alternatives for organic farmers for diversification, also in case of marginal farming conditions.