ITEMS FROM ITALY

ISTITUTO DE GENETICA VEGETALE - CNR

via Amendola 165/a, 70126 Bari, Italy.

Ancient and modern wheats: a comparison of biochemical, nutritional, and technological features of selected lines grown in southern Italy. [p. 70]

A.R. Piergiovanni, A. Pasqualone (Dipartimento PROGESA, Università di Bari), G. Laghetti, and R. Simeone (Dipartimento BCA, Università di Bari).

Recently, farmers, consumers, and researchers have been giving attention to the so-called 'ancient wheats' emmer (T. turgidum subsp. dicoccum), spelt, and oriental wheat or khorasan (T. turgidum subsp. turanicum). As a consequence, a niche market has developed around them. Today, scarce and controversial information is found in literature about the agronomic, biochemical, nutritional, and technological characteristics of these crop species. For this reason, we made a comparison between selected emmer, spelt, and oriental wheat using a multidisciplinary approach. Two modern cultivars, one each for durum and bread wheat, were included in the study as references.

The material was tested in an experimental field in southern Italy, a geographic area devoted to the wheat cultivation. A total of fifteen parameters, including the main nutritional and technological indices, were determined on both whole and refined meal obtained from the tested lines. Meal obtained from the three ancient wheats were characterized by a protein ash content superior to those of modern cultivars. Differences among the species were detected relative to some parameters such as b-carotene and some macro- and microelements. In general, the nutritional traits of oriental wheat were more similar to those of the tested durum wheat cultivar Norba than to those of the emmer cultivar Farvento. Bread-making trials compared the quality of the final product. The bread quality, good loaf volume, and sensory properties recorded for the oriental and spelt cultivars were comparable to those of the common and durum wheats.

Publications. [p. 70]

• Simeone R, Pasqualone A, Signorile MA, Laghetti G, Volpe N, and Piergiovanni AR. 2004. Evaluation of the bread-making attitude of oriental wheat (Triticum turanicum Jakubz.). In: Proc XLVIII SIGA Cong, 15-18 September 2004, Lecce, Italy. Pp. 157-158.
• Piergiovanni AR, Pasqualone A, Simeone R, Signorile MA, Volpe N, and Laghetti G. 2004. Analisi agro-tecnologica di una filiera di qualità: il caso del grano Kamut® in Italia meridionale. In: Proc 6th AISTEC Cong, 16-18 June 2005, Valenzano, Italy. Pp. 42-43 (In Italian).
• Pasqualone A, Piergiovanni AR, Laghetti G, and Simeone R. 2005. Quality evaluation of alternative wheat cereals in bread production. In: Proc Conf on Health and Biodiversity, 23-25 August 2005, Galway, Ireland. P. 38.
• Pasqualone A, Piergiovanni AR, Laghetti G, Volpe N, and Simeone R. 2005. Panificazione da frumenti alternativi: valutazione di pane ottenuto da grano Kamut® e da spelta. In: Proc 7th CISETA Cong, 19-20 September 2005, Villa Erba-Cernobbio, Italy. Pp. 24-25 (In Italian).
  
  

ISTITUTO SPERIMENTALE PER LA CEREALICOLTURA - EXPERIMENTAL INSITUTUE FOR CEREAL RESEARCH

Via Cassia 176, 00191 Roma, Italy.

Reaction of 33 cultivars of durum wheat to cereal soilborne mosaic virus during 2004-05. [p. 71-72]

V. Vallega and C. Rubies-Autonell, A. Pisi, and C. Ratti (Dipartimento Scienze e Tecnologie Agroalimentari, Area di Patologia Vegetale, Università di Bologna).

Cereal soilborne mosaic virus is widespread in northern and central Italy where it causes severe losses on both common and durum wheat crops. Yield losses of 70 % have been recorded on susceptible cultivars of durum wheat. CSBMVIonio, Neodur, Provenzal, and Tiziana) of the 91 we have tested so far have shown high levels of resistance to WSBMV. also is present in a number of farms in southern Italy and in Sicily. During the 2004-05 season, 33 durum wheat cultivars were assayed in a severely CSBMV-infested field situated near Cadriano (Bologna). The cultivars were grown in 10-sq. m plots distributed in the field according to a randomized block design with three replicates. Resistance was evaluated on the basis of DAS-ELISA readings (on two dates), symptom severity (on four dates, using a 0-4 scale), and agronomic performance (Table 1). Because seed of cultivar Provenzal germinated poorly, agronomic performance was not evaluated for this entry. Cultivars Anco Marzio, Giove, Sorrento, Sorriso, Vendetta, and Vinci, all assayed for the first time, proved susceptible. Simple correlation coefficients between the agronomic data, ELISA values, and symptom scores were relatively high and mostly statistically significant (Table 2). Regression analysis indicated that cultivars with disease scores higher than 3.0 suffered grain yield, kernel weight, and plant height reductions of about 48 %, 18 % and 29 %, respectively.

Reaction of 35 cultivars of common wheat to cereal soilborne mosaic virus during 2004-05. [p. 72-73]

V. Vallega and C. Rubies-Autonell, A. Pisi, and C. Ratti (Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agroalimentari, Area di Patologia Vegetale, Università di Bologna, Italy).

Thirty-five cultivars of common wheat were grown in a severely CSBMV-infested field near Cadriano (Bologna) during the 2004-05 season. Entries were grown in 10-sq. m. plots distributed in the field according to a randomized block design with three replicates. Resistance was evaluated on the basis of DAS-ELISA readings (on two dates), symptom severity, (on three dates, using a 0-4 scale), and agronomic performance. Cultivars Africa, Albachiara, Avorio and Serpico, assayed for the first time, proved susceptible to CSBMV (Table 3). As in previous trials, symptoms were milder than those observed on durum wheat cultivars grown in an adjacent field. ELISA values, symptom scores, and agronomic data were significantly correlated with each other (Table 4). Regression analysis indicated that cultivars with disease scores higher than 3.0 suffered grain yield and plant height reductions of about 38 % and 10 %, respectively. Yield reductions as high as 50 % had been recorded in previous trials.

UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agroalimentari (DiSTA), Area di Patologia Vegetale, Via Filippo Re 8, 40126 Bologna, Italy.

Reaction of 111 cultivars of durum wheat of various origins to cereal soilborne mosaic virus. [p. 74-75]

C. Ratti, C. Rubies Autonell, M. Maccaferri, R. Tuberosa, and M.C. Sanguineti and V. Vallega (C.R.A, Istituto Sperimentale per la Cerealicoltura, Roma).

One hundred eleven old and modern durum wheat cultivars representative of a large portion of the genetic diversity present in the world's improved durum wheat gene pool were grown for two seasons in a field near Bologna (Italy) with natural inoculum sources of cereal soilborne mosaic virus (CSBMV) and evaluated for resistance on the basis of symptom severity expression and CSBMV concentration in leaves using DAS (Double Antibody Sandwich) ELISA. Entries were sown in plots consisting of three 122-cm long, solid-seeded rows, distributed according to a randomized block design with two replicates. Symptom severity was scored on three dates in 2003 and on four dates in 2004 using a 0-4 scale. Virus concentration was determined on extracts from leaves collected on three dates in 2003 and on two dates in 2004. Extracts were from a bulk of the apical half of the second and third youngest leaves of 10 randomly chosen plants/plot. Bulked leaf samples from each plot were processed separately. Symptom scores were significantly correlated (P < 0.01) with ELISA values in both seasons (r = 0.827 in 2003 and r = 0.890 in 2004). Interyear correlations too were highly significant for both ELISA values (r = 0.911) and symptom scores (r = 0.848). The cultivars analyzed manifested a wide range of reactions to CSBMV (Table 1), but none remained symptomless in both seasons nor were clearly devoid of CSBMV. Thirty-five cultivars consistently showed low ELISA values, and 21 had mean ELISA values higher than that of the susceptible control cultivar Grazia. The resistant entries identified included the cultivar Edmore and twelve Edmore-derivatives independently bred in Canada, France, Italy, and the U.S., suggesting that this cultivar has one or few major genes for CSBMV resistance. Studies have been undertaken to identify markers associated with the CSBMV-resistance gene(s) present in cultivar Edmore and in some of the other, unrelated, CSBMV-resistant cultivars identified in the study. Because of their extreme reactions to CSBMV and their wide adaptability, a number of the cultivars assayed should prove useful for investigating the existence of CSBMV pathotypes and/or pathogenic differences between CSBMV, wheat soilborne mosaic virus, and Chinese wheat mosaic virus.

Reaction of UK winter wheat varieties to CSBMV and WSSMV in France, Italy, and the U.K. [p. 75-76]

C. Rubies-Autonell and C. Ratti, G.E. Budge and C. Henry (Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York, UK), D. Lockley (ADAS, Mamhead Castle, Mamhead, Exeter, UK), M. Bonnefoy (ITCF, Ouzouer le Marche, France), and V Vallega (C.R.A., Istituto Sperimentale per la Cerealicoltura, Rome, Italy).

In Europe, cereal soilborne mosaic virus is widely distributed, whereas wheat spindle streak mosaic virus, often found infecting wheat in combination with CSBMV, thus far, was identified only in France, Germany, and Italy. Twenty U.K.-recommended winter wheat cultivars (Aardvark, Biscay, Buchan, Buster, Charger, Claire, Cockpit, Consort, Deben, Eclipse, Equinox, Hereward, Madrigal, Malacca, Napier, Reaper, Rialto, Riband, Savannah, Shamrock, and Xi19) were grown at six sites with a history of viral infection by CSBMV and/or WSSMV in France (Chambon sur Cisse and Landes Le Gaulois) , Italy (Minerbio, Ozzano and Rome), and the U.K. (Wiltshire). Eleven trials were conducted over three seasons. Local varieties of known reaction to both viruses (Aztec, Cezanne, Tremie, Grazia, and Valnova) also were planted at each site as controls. Cultivar responses to CSBMV and WSSMV were evaluated on the basis of symptom severity, ELISA values, grain yield, stem height at harvest, and 1,000-kernel weight. Severe symptoms of CSBMV were seen in the majority of the cultivars assayed. Little or no symptoms were seen in the cultivars Aardvark, Charger, Claire, Hereward, and Xi 19. WSSMV was not detected in the leaves or roots of any U.K. cultivars, suggesting, the varieties tested were immune.

Studies on the occurrence of pathotypes in the Furuvirus genus. [p. 76]

C. Rubies-Autonell and C. Ratti, U. Kastirr (Federal Centre for Breeding Research on Cultivated Plants, Institute of Resistance Research and Pathogen Diagnostics, Aschersleben, Germany), and V. Vallega (C.R.A., Istituto Sperimentale per la Cerealicoltura, Rome, Italy).

Fourteen cultivars of durum wheat from Italy and from other countries were grown in a field with CSBMV near Bologna, Italy (Table 2), as part of a collaborative study to determine the presence of pathotypes within CSBMV and of pathogenic differences between CSBMV, wheat soilborne mosaic virus and Chinese wheat mosaic virus. The same cultivars are being assayed against CSBMV and WSBMV in Germany, both under controlled environmental conditions and in field trials.

Sixth IWGPVFV symposium and proceedings. [p. 76]

The Sixth Symposium of the International Working Group on Plant Viruses with Fungal Vectors was held in Bologna, Italy, from 5-7 September 2005 (local organizers C. Rubies-Autonell and V. Vallega). Scientists from twenty-three countries attended the symposium. Eighteen communications dealt with viral diseases of wheat. The Sessions were chaired by Tetsuo Tamada, Lesley Torrance, Frank Ordon, Claude Bragard, Michael J. Adams, Charlie Rush, and Thomas Kühne. The proceedings (edited by C.M. Rush and U. Merz) will be published in late 2005 or early 2006. In the meantime, the program and the abstracts of the communications presented can be accessed at www.rothamsted.bbsrc.ac.uk/ppi/Iwgpvfv/Bologna.html. The next meeting is planned to be held in Quedlinburg, Germany in 2008 (local organizer, Dr Thomas Kühne, (t.kuehne@bafz.de). The present IWGPVFV Committee is comprized of Ueli Merz, Charles M. Rush, and Michael J. Adams.