Conventional Versus Organic Wheat Production: Implications on Breeding and the Supply Chain

ABSTRACT The majority of the wheat produced worldwide originates from conventional (CON) farming systems. However, EU policies aim to tremendously expand the area dedicated to organic (ORG) farming by 2030, which could affect stakeholders in the wheat supply chain and wheat breeding strategies. Therefore, we analysed three independent wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) datasets containing 146 different genotypes, which were grown in multi‐environmental trials under ORG and CON farming systems. In addition to grain yield and grain test weight, we assessed nine traits related to baking quality, the contents of eight minerals, 19 amino acids and dietary fibre. Compared to CON farming systems, considerably lower grain yield, lower performance in most baking quality traits and lower contents of most amino acids and minerals such as Fe, S and Ca were observed in ORG farming systems. However, higher dietary fibre and Zn content were determined in wheat grown in ORG compared to CON farming systems, whereas for some minerals and baking quality traits, no clear trend across datasets was found. None of the nutrients had a higher correlation with bread loaf volume than sedimentation volume. The heritability was higher for most traits in CON compared to ORG farming systems. The correlation coefficients between the two farming systems were fairly high for many traits, suggesting that, together with several practical considerations, a combined selection strategy could be used to target both CON and ORG markets simultaneously.