Création de variétés d’épeautre adaptées à la réduction des intrants et répondant aux besoins de l’agriculture durable

Creation of spelt varieties suited to reduced input and meeting the needs of sustainable agriculture

Context

Spelt is an old cereal which, following the breeding work carried out over the last few years, deserves to be rediscovered within the framework of environmentally friendly agriculture. In the present context of the agricultural economy, diversification is one possible way of maintaining profitable cereal production. Spelt undoubtedly has a part to play, if it is integrated into the mixed livestock / arable farming system. Spelt requires very little in the way of inputs. Its production cost is consequently lower than that of winter wheat. Resistance to wheat leaf blotch, characteristic of spelt, together with resistance to yellow rust, straight away avoids the need for a fungicidal treatment before flag leaf emergence. This is therefore a suitable cereal for reduced use of plant protection products. Due to its ability to adapt to less fertile areas, spelt also helps to maintain agriculture in less favoured regions. Its hardiness makes it particularly suited to cold, wet areas such as the Belgian and French Ardennes, notably due to its very good level of resistance to germination in the ear.

Objectives

The aim of the spelt breeding project is to breed varieties that fulfil the criteria of resistance to diseases, cold and lodging, which are productive under low nitrogen fertilisation conditions and which have the specific properties of spelt, namely a low P/L value and a high protein content.

Description of tasks

The breeding work conducted at CRA-W uses conventional techniques, based on hybridisation and selection of lines by evaluating segregating progenies for at least seven generations. The breeding scheme uses different methods generally employed by breeders (bulk population method and pedigree selection according to generation). Comparative yield trials in suboptimal nitrogen fertilisation conditions enable the most nitrogen-responsive lines to be identified. Resistance to lodging is one of the main selection criteria, as susceptibility to lodging is a major limiting factor for the crop. To remain hardy, however, spelt must retain a greater straw height than winter wheat. In the last few years, rigorous selection for this trait has led to a significant reduction in the risk of lodging, while still retaining sufficient straw height. As with soft wheat, the development of disease resistance is essential. Resistance to brown rust allows the crop to be developed in parts of the world where this disease is a major limiting factor. As in the case of wheat, polygenic resistance to diseases is developed. Partial and multigenic resistance to powdery mildew, a very common disease in the Ardennes, is also developed in order to limit the risk of escaping resistance. Development of breadmaking quality is carried out from the fifth year of breeding, using the Zeleny test and, at a later stage, the Chopin alveograph. Pedigree selection is used to fix the lines. Since 1999, following a European project concerned with spelt, complete characterisation of old genetic resources has been carried out. Old varieties of spelt collected in Condroz, Famenne and the Ardennes and preserved by the Department have been used for hybridisation, in order to limit the drift due to introducing winter wheat material into the spelt breeding programme.

Expected results

Results obtained

Poème Variety registered in 1998. Poème combines resistance to lodging and to diseases (with moderate resistance to brown rust), productivity and similar breadmaking ability to Rouquin. Poème is currently the earliest maturing variety, a major asset in the Ardennes region. Ressac Variety registered in 1998. Ressac combines productivity, quality and resistance to diseases and to lodging. This is the latest spelt variety in the range. Ressac is resistant to rusts and powdery mildew. Its resistance to brown rust is partial but high, a factor that should ensure durability. Ressac is a variety with a very good yield potential, combined with the best breadmaking quality level among spelts (W Chopin 220 to 250). Ressac is a very attractive alternative to Rouquin within the framework of organic production for breadmaking. Cosmos Variety registered in 2000. This variety combines productivity, resistance to diseases and to lodging and breadmaking quality. Yields from Cosmos can exceed 10 tonnes / ha. This variety requires only 1.9 kg of nitrogen to produce 100 kg of crude product (spikelets before hulling). That gives it a significant advantage in both environmental and economic terms compared to other cereal varieties and species which require considerably more nitrogen. The nitrogen requirement of winter wheat, for comparison, is between 2.5 and 3.5. Cosmos has a similar or even slightly better breadmaking quality than Rouquin. Stone Variety registered in 2003. This line is of equivalent breadmaking quality to Cosmos and, although of slightly lower productivity, it does have the advantage of being much harder to hull than Cosmos. This latter property is of particular value for ruminant feed. Stone has high resistance to diseases and to lodging. Three other lines have been registered in the catalogue but have either not been disseminated or have been replaced for commercial purposes, namely Spy, Beryl and Liroux.