Processing and Bread-Making Quality Profile of Spanish Spelt Wheat

Abstract

Spelt wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ssp. spelta Thell.) is an ancient wheat that has been widely cultivated for hundreds of years. Recently, this species has been neglected in most of Europe; however, the desire for more natural and traditional foods has driven a revival of the crop. In the current study, eighty-eight traditional spelt genotypes from Spain, together with nine common wheat cultivars and one modern spelt (cv. Anna Maria) were grown during a period of two years in Andalucia (southern Spain). In each, several traits were measured in to evaluate their milling, processing, and end-use quality (bread-making). The comparison between species suggested that, in general, spelt and common wheat showed differences for most of the measured traits; on average, spelt genotypes had softer grains, higher protein content (14.3 vs. 11.9%) and gluten extensibility (alveograph P/L 0.5 vs. 1.8), and lower gluten strength (alveograph W 187 vs. 438 × 10−4 J). In the baking test, both species showed similar values. Nevertheless, the analysis of this set of spelt genotypes showed a wide range for all measured traits, with higher values than common wheat in some spelt genotypes for some traits. This opens up the possibility of using these materials in future breeding programs, to develop either new spelt or common wheat cultivars.

Dissecting Genotype by Environment Interactions in Moroccan Wheat: An Advanced Biplot and Heatmap Analysis Unveiling Agronomic, Quality Traits, and Genotypic Stability for Tailored Breeding Strategies

“…Further, unveiling correlations among traits, the strong positive correlation between protein and gluten content, and gluten content and baking strength highlight the intertwined nature of these quality traits. This observation aligns with the findings of Kirouani et al [ 63 ], Al-Khayri et al [ 64 ], and Huertas-García et al [ 65 ].…”

Nutritional Components of Wheat Based Food: Composition, Properties, and Uses

“…In a similar approach, Huertas-García et al [4] evaluated a wide collection (eightyeight) of Spanish traditional spelt accessions for grain/ flour quality, dough, and baking traits and compared them with those of ten modern wheat cultivars (nine bread wheats and one modern spelt cultivar). In comparison with wheats, Spanish spelt accessions showed softer grains, higher protein content and gluten extensibility, and lower gluten strength.…”