Ammonium nutrition affects the accumulation of winter wheat glutenins

Abstract

Bread wheat quality is a highly complex feature which is mainly determined by the amount of grain protein and the qualitative composition of that protein. Nitrogen fertilization is the agronomic practice that most widely affects the quality, since the accumulation of reserve protein is influenced not only by the amount of N fertilizer, but also by the type and timing of N source applied. Nitrogen fertilization improves grain quality due to a rise in grain protein content (Fuertes- Mendizábal et al., 2011). However, the N source or splitting N application has a more variable effect on grain quality. The main objective of this study was to assess the effect of applying exclusively ammonium as the N source split into two or three applications during the crop lifecycle on the composition of the reserve protein fraction responsible for bread dough strength.