Baking Quality of Winter Wheat Grown in Different Cultivating Systems, 1992–2001: A Holistic Approach

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to determine whether organic and conventional cultivation systems differ with respect to baking quality of winter wheat and to evaluate the influence of seasonal variations on this parameter. The research site was at Kvinnersta, Central Sweden, on a clay loam containing 3–6% humus with a mean annual temperature of 5.7°C and a mean annual rainfall of 540 mm.

A PCA analysis showed that differences existed between the cultivation systems. PC1 explained the greatest variation, 46%, and this was significant (P = 0.020). The factors affecting the variation most were the farinogram dough stability and bread volume. Rainfall during April affected the conventional system and during April-June the organic. Univariate statistics showed that the conventional system was significantly better (P < 0.05) than the organic system with respect to: protein content, wet gluten, farinogram dough stability, dough breakdown, extensogram surface, dough yield, bread volume and yield. The overall outcome of the study was that nitrogen was the most limiting factor in the organic cultivation system.

KEYWORDS:

• Organic farming
• cultivation system
• long-term field trial
• baking quality
• wheat
• principal component analysis