Agronomic characteristics of the spring forms of the wheat landraces (einkorn, emmer, spelt, intermediate bread wheat) grown in organic farming

Organic farmers look to the possibilities of growing neglected crops, such as the spring forms of hulled wheat - einkorn, emmer and spelt - for support in developing the organic farming system. In 2008, 169 landraces from the gene bank at the Crop Research Institute in Prague were tested on certified organic plots. The experiment was aimed at finding suitable varieties for the organic farming system. In summary, our findings show that einkorn (Triticum monococcum L.) and emmer wheat [Triticum dicoccum Schrank (Schuebl)] are resistant to powdery mildew and brown rust, spelt wheat (Triticum spelta L.) is less resistant to these two diseases, and the intermediate forms of bread wheat are very sensitive to such infestation. The varieties evaluated incline to lodging, as they have long and weak stems. Einkorn and emmer wheat have short and dense spikes and a low thousand grains weight, whereas spelt wheat has long and lax spikes. The level of the harvest index is low. Potentially useful varieties were found during the field experiment and evaluation, and our future efforts will therefore focus on improving resistance to lodging and increasing the productivity of the spike.