Diversity trends in bread wheat in Italy during the 20th century assessed by traditional and multivariate approaches

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.