Agronomic and kernel quality of ancient wheats grown in central and southern Italy

Several genotypes of the two “ancients wheats” species, Khorasan wheat and emmer, wereevaluated in two different marginal areas of central and southern Italy. They were comparedwith some old and new released varieties of durum wheat, in order to better understand theiragronomic potential and their suitability to be grown in those conditions. Khorasan wheat wasthe worst yielding species with the highest plant height, kernel and hectolitre weight. Yieldand kernel weight from emmer resulted intermediate between the other two species, whileplant height did not differ from that of durum wheat. Emmer exhibited high protein and glutencontent. Wide genetic response to many traits was found within each species grouping; thissuggests that some emmer and Khorasan wheat genotypes have the potential to give high qualityproduct and interesting yield in rainfed marginal areas of central and southern Italy.[...]