title: Diversity trends in bread wheat in Italy during the 20th century assessed by traditional and multivariate approaches.
abstract: A collection of 157 Triticum aestivum accessions, representative of wheat breeding in Italy during the 20(th) century, was assembled to describe the evolutionary trends of cultivated varieties throughout this period. The lines were cultivated in Italy, in two locations, over two growing seasons, and evaluated for several agronomical, morphological and qualitative traits. Analyses were conducted using the most common univariate approach on individual plant traits coupled with a correspondance multivariate approach. ANOVA showed a clear trend from old to new varieties, leading towards earliness, plant height reduction and denser spikes with smaller seeds. The average protein content gradually decreased over time; however this trend did not affect bread-making quality, because it was counterbalanced by a gradual increase of SDS sedimentation volume, achieved by the incorporation of favourable alleles into recent cultivars. Correspondence analysis allowed an overall view of the breeding activity. A clear-cut separation was observed between ancient lines and all the others, matched with a two-step gradient, the first, corresponding roughly to the period 1920-1940, which can be ascribed mostly to genetics, the second, from the 40s onward, which can be ascribed also to the farming practice innovations, such as improvement of mechanical devices and optimised use of fertilizers.
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria - Unità di ricerca per la selezione dei cereali e la valorizzazione delle varietà vegetali (CRA-SCV) via R. Forlani 3, 26866 Sant'Angelo Lodigiano (LO) - Italy.
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ormoli
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria - Unità di ricerca per l'ingegneria agraria (CRA-ING) via della Pascolare, 16, 00015 Monterotondo Scalo (RM) - Italy.
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria - Unità di ricerca per la selezione dei cereali e la valorizzazione delle varietà vegetali (CRA-SCV) via R. Forlani 3, 26866 Sant'Angelo Lodigiano (LO) - Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Negri
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria - Unità di ricerca per la selezione dei cereali e la valorizzazione delle varietà vegetali (CRA-SCV) via R. Forlani 3, 26866 Sant'Angelo Lodigiano (LO) - Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perenzin
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria - Unità di ricerca per la selezione dei cereali e la valorizzazione delle varietà vegetali (CRA-SCV) via R. Forlani 3, 26866 Sant'Angelo Lodigiano (LO) - Italy.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vaccino
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005075:Biological Evolution; D014644:Genetic Variation; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007558:Italy; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics*; D000067348:Whole Grains / Q000235:genetics / Q000592:standards