Mineral Fertilization and Baking Value of Grain and Flour of Triticum aestivum ssp. spelta L.

Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of varied nitrogen fertilization and foliar application of microelements (Cu, Zn, Mn and combined application of Cu+Zn+Mn) and the effect of their interaction on the grain yield quantity and some technological parameters of grain and flour of Triticum aestivum ssp. spelta L. cv. ‘Rokosz’.

Study Design: The field experiment was established with the randomized split-plot method in three replications.

Place and Duration of Study: Field study was conducted in two vegetation season (2012/2013, 2013/2014), at the Research Station in Minikowo near Bydgoszcz (53°10′2″ N, 17°44′22″ E) in Midwest Poland.

Methodology: The research factors were different levels of nitrogen fertilization (0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 kg∙ha-1) and foliar application of microelements (Cu, Mn, Zn and combined application of Cu+Mn+Zn). The obtained grain yield from the plots was adjusted to the constant humidity of 15%. From each plot, representative grain samples were collected for determination of quality features i.e. falling number, protein content, wet gluten, sedimentation value, water absorption of flour and bread volume from 100 g of flour.

Results: The grain yield of spelt cv. Rokosz ranged from 4.25 to 7.51 Mg·ha-1. In the season 2012/13 each increase in N by 20 kg∙ha-1 resulted in a significant increase (from 10.7 to 29.5%) in the grain yield in relation to the control. In the second year of the study, increasing fertilization by another 20 kg N∙ha-1 caused a significant increase in yield (from 7.8 to 10.9%) as compared with the lower fertilization treatment. All quantity parameters of spelt increased significantly (compared to control) with the increase of nitrogen fertilization level (4.3 – 28.8% in the 2012/13 season and 11.7-95.4% in 2013/14) and micronutrients foliar application (1.4 - 8.0% in 2012/13 and 2.8 – 5.9% in the 2013/14 season).

Conclusion: Each increase in the nitrogen fertilization level caused an increase in grain yield of Triticum spelta L. cv. ‘Rokosz’. Separate and combined application of microelements resulted in a positive yield-forming effect as compared with the control. Varied fertilization with nitrogen and microelements significantly determined the values of the studied technological parameters.