Pure farming. can wheat grow
Instead, there has been extreme focus on a few accessions, which led to a loss of biodiversity leading to difficulties to meet future agricultural demands, because genetic variability to provide climatic and pest adaptation is lost. In the quest for yield and quality, however, some important traits might have been lost as a result of low yielding cultivars, with other good characteristics, being discarded. This increase in wheat yield as well as an increase in quality can be attributed to research efforts from various disciplines such as plant breeding, agronomy, crop physiology and crop protection. As a result of this selective breeding the average yield for dry land wheat have increased from less than 0.5 tons/ha in 1936 to more than 3.5 ton/ha in 2015. In this regard the main role players in South Africa are ARC-Small Grains (established in 1976 as Small Grains Centre), Sensako (established in the mid-1960's, becoming independent in 1999 after functioning as part of Monsanto), and Pannar (entering the wheat breeding sector in the 1990's). The need for increased food production in an agricultural environment where land and water are becoming increasingly scarce resources is driving the selective breeding to improve wheat cultivars. Over time, there has been considerable change in variety of bread wheat as a result of the need to improve yield potential, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and nutritional and processing quality. After maize, wheat is the most important grain crop, cultivated in South Africa. durum, making up the rest of wheat cultivation. Bread wheat accounts for 95% of wheat grown annually, with 'pasta' or 'durum wheat', Triticum turgidum var. Encouraging the cultivation of these cultivars will also increase the biodiversity of our food products.īread wheat, Triticum aestivum, Ancient cultivars, Yield, Baking quality, Landracesīread wheat, Triticum aestivum, is cultivated globally and is currently the major staple crop in temperate zones. Since these 'heritage' and traditional wheat cultivars are low yielding in comparison with modern wheat cultivars on the market and not adapted to modern agricultural practices, they will not contribute to feeding the growing world population, but the re-introduction to the market and use of 'heritage' and traditional wheat cultivars might have a place in markets where its holistic use as crop is a viable option for producers, millers and bakers who cater for specific consumer markets. To determine how these older and traditional cultivars compare with modern wheat cultivars on the market, Witwol, Bolane and Makaloate were compared to dry land wheat cultivars, currently on the market in South Africa, with regard to Russian Wheat Aphid (RWA) resistance, yield, hectolitre mass, protein content, mixing time and loaf volume.
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Bolane and Makaloate are cultivars planted traditionally in the highlands of Lesotho. In South Africa there has been a renewed interest in older wheat cultivars, such as Witwol, by farmers producing wheat for niche markets. Because they have been proposed to be rich sources of bioactive components these historical wheat landraces, compared to current wheat cultivars on the market, are believed to produce higher value food products with enhanced health benefits. 'Ancient' wheat landraces were cultivated commonly in the past, but are today only grown on a small area in some countries for traditional foods.
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How Do Older Wheat Cultivars Compare to Modern Wheat Cultivars Currently on the Market in South Africa?īread wheat is cultivated globally and is currently the major staple crop in temperate zones.