Evaluation of the climatic and genetic effect on technological quality of spelt (Triticum spelta L.): Tuscany case study

Due to the high adaptability to marginal lands, the low management requirements and the high nutraceutical properties, spelt (Triticum spelta L.) is gaining growing interest from the market (Bonafaccia et al., 2000; Swieca et al. 2014; Wiwart et al., 2017; Andruszczak, 2018). Technological quality of spelt, especially the needs to ensure vitreousness, is the main factor affecting transformation processes (Wiwart et al., 2017). Indeed, floury structure of grains drives transformation process towards bread production. Following the growing market interest for spelt-derived pasta, vitreousness of grains is a precious characteristic. However, the lack of vitreous spelt accessions is a criticism for the production process. In addition, floury/vitreousness structures of grains is strongly affected by environment, especially precipitation and temperature, and by genotype (Turnbull and Rahman, 2002; Greffeuille et al., 2006; Chisci et al., 2010. Warechowska et al., 2016; Wiwart et al., 2017). For these reasons, the identification of spelt accession behaviours based on the climate, and the definition of which varieties ensure vitreousness regardless of environmental conditions is crucial. In this experiment, we analysed the effect of genetic and environmental conditions (precipitation and temperatures) on technological quality of 36 spelt accessions in Tuscany.