Improving Crop Health, Performance, and Quality in Organic Spring Wheat Production: The Need to Understand Interactions between Pedoclimatic Conditions, Variety, and Fertilization

Summary

Organic wheat production systems have lower yields compared with intensive conventional production and often do not achieve the grain protein content and quality thresholds set by millers and bakers. In contrast, organic production methods were reported to result in higher concentrations of nutritionally desirable micronutrients and lower concentrations of the toxic metal Cd in wheat grain and wholegrain flour. However, although N-availability and variety characteristics are known to affect both gain yields and bread-making quality, the exact reasons for the yield gap and differences in grain processing and nutritional quality between organic and conventional spring wheat production in the UK are poorly understood. The overall aim of this study was therefore to determine to what extent cha