Seeding rate and cultivar effects on yield, yield components and grain quality of spring spelt in eastern Canada

Abstract

Dorval, I., Vanasse, A., Pageau, D. and Dion, Y. 2015. Seeding rate and cultivar effects on yield, yield components and grain quality of spring spelt in eastern Canada. Can. J. Plant. Sci. 95: 841–849. There is currently an increasing demand from master millers for spelt (Triticum aestivum ssp. spelta), but little is known about crop management of spring spelt under the eastern Canadian climate in organic or low-input systems. Field experiments were carried out at three sites in Quebec from 2011 to 2013 to assess the effect of cultivar (CDC Origin, CDC Zorba, CDC Nexon, CDC Silex) and seeding rate (250, 300, 350, 400 and 450 grains m−2) on grain and straw yields, yield components and some grain quality characteristics of spelt. CDC Origin produced higher hulled grain yields at all sites, while CDC Silex produced similar hulled grain yields and achieved the highest naked grain yields at two of the three test sites. The hull content varied from 24.0 to 37.6% among cultivars. CDC Origin had the highest hull content at each site. The seeding rate generally had no effect on yields, but had an effect on yield components; increasing seeding rates slightly increased the number of spikes per square metre and decreased the number of grains per spike, while the 1000-grain weight remained unaffected. Protein content of all cultivars was high (14.2 to 15.4%), while falling number varied from 219 to 385 s.