Abstract
(Englisch)
|
The goal of the SESA project with spelt (Triticum spelta L.) is to support this crop as an alternative culture for sustainable agriculture in Europe as well as to promote a niche market for special products. The more specific objectives are to test a wide adaptation potential of newly developed spelt lines of the three breeding programs still existing in Europe. As an extension of the already existing network between the three programs (ESN) the present study has both expanded in number of lines as well as locations and production systems including organic farming. As a result so far it was evident, that there exists a large variation within the test set for all the characters analysed in two years, indicating a large genotypic influence.
We were responsible for a test site located outside the traditional spelt growing area of Switzerland in a region typical for cereal production (Delley, 502 m.a.s.l). At the same time we were responsible for the maintenance, multiplication and distribution of the Swiss lines and varieties for all participating partners in the whole SESA-Project.
In task 4.2 a set of 25 entries was assembled in 1997/1998 as well as in 1998/1999, consisting of six standard varieties and 7 new breeding lines from Belgium and Germany and 5 lines from Switzerland respectively. The experimental design was a complete lattice design with three replications and a plot size of 8,91 m2, i.e. the same design as in 1997/1998. Planting date was late October 1998 which is a normal planting date for spelt. A range of parameters were measured including heading date, plant density, plant height, lodging resistance, disease resistance, yield and yield components.
Only results of all locations and years will give reliable conclusions. This evaluation will be done centrally for all sites working in this project in Gembloux, Belgium. At our site we got the following results comparing to the field trial in 1997/1998. We found a significantly higher yield (P< 0.01) over all entries in 1999 (+15%). As in 1998 a high level of yield in the Belgian population was observed, but differences between groups were smaller than in 1998. For lodging resistance a wide range was obtained again. Nevertheless we recorded significantly lower scores (P< 0.01) over all entries in 1999 compared to 1998, i.e. we observed less lodging in 1999. This was probably due to the significantly (P< 0.01) shorter plants over all populations observed in 1999. As in 1998, plant height was correlated (r=0.75, P<0.01) with lodging resistance. The relatively short strawed Swiss and Belgian Populations had an obvious advantage in lodging resistance. Although a significantly lower score of powdery mildew was recorded in 1999 compared to 1998, high levels of disease resistance were seen within the lines of Switzerland and Belgium. As a conclusion for a 2 years trial at one location it can be pointed out that adapted lines for a wide range of traits could be found in all origins, thus there exists a broad genetic variability in the European gene-pool of spelt.
|
