Yield stability and grain quality across various conditions reflect winter wheat varieties’ potential for organic farming in Hungary

Abstract To support farmers with practice-relevant research results, registered varieties of winter wheat have been tested in organic farming systems to identify varieties suited to the specific needs of Hungarian organic agriculture. In addition to supporting farmers' decision, the results of the post-registration variety trials can contribute to the development of the organic sector by providing rankings of varieties suitable for different agro-ecological conditions. The research was carried out over three years (2021–2023) at seven locations in different pedoclimatic regions of Hungary. Grain yield and nutrient values were collected, and a mixed effects model was used to evaluate the yield, grain protein and gluten contents of the varieties across different locations. Yield stability calculations were carried out with linear regression. Yield, grain protein and gluten contents, as well as yield stability varied considerably between varieties, locations and years. The yield of the best performing varieties reached 11.6 t ha⁻ 1 but remained below 2 t ha⁻ 1 in heavily drought prone years and locations. Quality characteristics were generally negatively correlated with yield. Grain protein content varied from 7.8% to 16% and grain gluten content from 7.8% to 35.1%. High yields were accompanied by lower stability in some cases. Domestic (Hungarian) varieties and an Austrian organically bred variety were found to be most suitable for organic winter wheat production under different environmental conditions of Hungary. These findings highlight the importance of specific variety development of wheat targeted either to the management system (organic) and/or to the country(region)-specific pedoclimatic conditions.