Relationships between disease control, green leaf duration, grain quality and the production of alcohol from winter wheat

• Published in: Journal of the science of food and agriculture 2010-12, Vol.90 (15), p.2602-2607
• Main Authors: Watson, Andrew M, Hare, Martin C, Kettlewell, Peter S, Brosnan, James M, Agu, Reginald C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agronomy; alcohol; Alcohols; bioethanol; biofuels; Biological and medical sciences; Cereal and baking product industries; crop quality; disease; Disease control; Distillation; Edible Grain - classification; Edible Grain - metabolism; Edible Grain - standards; energy crops; Ethanol - isolation & purification; Ethanol - metabolism; ethanol fuels; ethanol production; field experimentation; Food industries; Food science; Foods; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fungi; fungicide; Fungicides; Fungicides, Industrial - pharmacology; Grain; grain quality; Grains; green leaf duration; Leaves; Pesticides; Plant diseases; Plant Diseases - microbiology; Plant Leaves - drug effects; Plant Leaves - growth & development; Plant Leaves - microbiology; Plant Proteins; Species Specificity; Triticum - growth & development; Triticum - metabolism; Triticum - microbiology; Triticum aestivum; Wheat; Winter; winter wheat
• ISSN: 0022-5142; 1097-0010; 1097-0010
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.4128

BACKGROUND: Since demand for distilling wheat is expected to increase rapidly as a result of the development of the bioethanol industry, efficient production will become of increasing importance. Achieving this will require an understanding of the agronomic factors that influence both grain yield and alcohol yield. Therefore five field experiments using the winter distilling wheat variety Glasgow were conducted over three seasons (2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2008-2009) to study the relationships between foliar disease and alcohol yield. RESULTS: There was a significant relationship between alcohol yield and the severity of the disease septoria leaf blotch (Septoria tritici), which was present in the experiments from natural infection. Retention of green flag leaf area as affected by disease control following fungicide application was also shown to be important for achieving high alcohol yields. Measurements of grain quality showed that high thousand‐grain weight and low grain protein concentration were significantly related to increased alcohol yield. CONCLUSION: The experiments showed the importance of disease management to protect alcohol yields in the distilling wheat crop. Fungicides that provide greater disease control and improved green leaf retention are likely to be beneficial to alcohol yield. Copyright