CULTIVAR AND NITROGEN FERTILISER EFFECTS ON FRESH AND STORED WINTER WHEAT GRAIN QUALITY INDICES

Field experiments with winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars ‘Bussard’ and ‘Zentos’ using four nitrogen top application rates (N60, N90, N120 and N150) were conducted at the Latvia University of Agriculture, Study and Research farm “Pçterlauki” in 2010 and 2011. The objective of this study was to determine effect of nitrogen (N) fertiliser on quality indices of fresh and stored grain (60–120 days) for two different winter wheat cultivars. Highly significant effect of cultivars and nitrogen fertiliser were detected for quality traits: protein content, wet gluten and sedimentation value. For the grain stored for 60–120 days, protein content was variable, sedimentation values decreased, the falling number increased, the content of wet gluten declined, and the quality of gluten improved. For ‘Zentos’, close positive correlation was found between gluten content and protein content, and between sedimentation value and protein, high positive correlation was found, and between sedimentation value and gluten content for both cultivars.