Impact of Regenerative Agriculture on Gluten Aggregation Properties of Wheat

The use of regenerative agriculture strategies, like minimum tillage and cover crops, may offer a solution for agriculture to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, by increasing soil carbon stock, and improve resilience of cropping systems. However, limited research has explored how these practices affect wheat technological quality, which is the aim of the present study. For cover crop experiment, a high protein soft wheat was grown in 2024 under five soil cover treatments during the intercropping period (bare soil, sorghum, niger, cowpea, and infested soil) and three fertilization rates (0, 90, 150 kg N/ha). For soil tillage experiment, a high yield breadmaking wheat was grown in 2024 by comparing conventional ploughing and minimum tillage by disk harrowing and the use of a synthetic fungicide at flowering. In both trials, agronomic (grain yield) and qualitative features of kernels (test weight and protein content) and flours (gluten aggregation properties by GlutoPeak) were investigated. Cover crops affected yield and protein content. Gluten aggregation properties were influenced by both fertilization rates and cover crops. On the other hand, minimum tillage negatively affected kernels quality traits, also weakening the gluten network, but fungicide application mitigated these effects. In conclusion, cover crops and minimum tillage are promising strategies for climate change mitigation, but, within a correct re-design of cereal cropping systems, require optimal fertilization and fungicide use to ensure effective implementation and minimize the potential negative effect in wheat quality. Project funded by PNRR, Mission 4, component 2 “From research to industry” – Investment3.3 “Introduction of innovative PhD programs that address the innovation needs of companies and promote the hiring of researchers by businesses”.