Impacts of climate change on Tuscany durum wheat quality

Meteorological conditions strongly affect agricultural activity, modifying plant responses and determining the quality and quantity of production. Moreover the analysis of these aspects on the basis of current meteo-climatic variability and change has a high importance, also in order to provide the growers with operational and forecasting tools to improve the management and planning of their production. On the basis of these considerations the present chapter has the aim of analyzing the relationship between meteorological conditions and the quality of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum) in terms of protein content. Weather conditions during growing season were described utilizing large-scale meteorological information, including climatic indices, presently available on internet sites (air temperature, cumulated precipitation, 500 hPa geopotential height, Sea Surface Temperature, Sea Level Pressure, North Atlantic Oscillation). The analysis was performed for the period 1996-2007 for Tuscany region, Central Italy. Moreover the analysis of trends was performed for meteorological data and indices from 1948 to 2007 in order to evaluate the effect of climate change. Results highlighted significant relationships between meteorological conditions and wheat quality. It was negatively correlated with precipitation cumulated along the growing period and positively correlated with spring air temperature. Teleconnections between quality data and 500 hPa geopotential height, sea surface temperature, sea level pressure and NAO index were also analyzed for the potential development of wheat-quality forecasting tools.