Improvement of the technological quality of bread and durum wheat under organic farming and biodiversity valorization
QualitàInBio is a two-year project of Molino Grassi Spa in collaboration with Open Fields srl, Horta srl, l’Azienda Agraria Sperimentale Stuard and Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna.
The project aims to improve the technological quality of durum and bread wheat varieties cultivated in plains under organic farming to meet the requirements of the secondary processing industry. The objective is set in a context of a progressive shift from conventional farming to organic and an extension of the organic cropping areas from the mountain/hill to the plains; to enhance cereal biodiversity by identifying effective selling propositions based on their nutritional and health value.
The Project will identify the agronomic techniques (varieties, preceding crop, defense strategies towards the most common phytopathogens, weed control) to be applied on organic lands, in particular the fertile plains of the Po valley, to obtain the same levels of technological quality of conventional wheat. The secondary processing industry will therefore have access to organic flours with high alveographic parameters, suitable for leavened bakery products such as panettoni or croissants, and semolina for high quality pasta. The Project will allow to analyze the polyphenol and flavonoid content, the antioxidant activity and the in vitro effects on the intestinal mucosa of the phenolic extracts of different wheat heritage varieties, for their usage in final products with increased nutritional and health value. The positive effects will be associated with the maintenance of the cultivated biodiversity and the market availability of biological and biodiverse products, which today raise a growing interest on consumers.
ROLE: Scientific Coordinator
TIMING: 2018-2020
CALL: PSR (MISURA 16.2.01)
