Search

In spite of variable grain protein contents, baking quality of organic wheat was found to be acceptable to good. Mycotoxin (DON) infestation was generally low on tested grain samples. Choice of wheat cultivar was the most efficient way to obtain higher grain quality. Fertilization with readily available nitrogen and, to a lower extent, association with legumes and green manures with mixtures containing fodder legumes also improved grain quality. Reduced tillage affected soil quality and wheat yield but had little effects on grain quality.

This chapter is a first attempt to analyse bottlenecks and challenges of European organic bread wheat sector involving technical, political and market issues. From 2000, the organic grain market has largely increased in Western Europe. To balance higher consumer demand there is a need to increase organic production by a new transition and technical improvement. Bread wheat is grown in a variety of crop rotations and farming systems where four basic organic crop production systems have been defined. Weeds and nitrogen deficiency are considered to be the most serious threat inducing lowest grain yield under organic production. The choice of cultivar, green manure, fertilization and intercropping legumes – grain or forage – are efficient ways to obtain high grain quality and quantity.The economic viability of wheat production in Europe is also affected by subsidies from European Union agri-environmental programs. Support has been granted to organic farming since the beginning of the 1990s. Direct payments from European regulation combined with premium prices paid by consumers had compensated the lowest crop production. In the European Union, the current cycle of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is due to end in 2013. Discussions are now under way to support the policy for the period 2014–2020. With the increasing consumer awareness of their food, the growth of the organic sector may continue in the near future. However, financial crisis in some countries may lead to stagnation or even decline of consumer demand.The development of the organic grain sector is actually confronted to others challenges as quality and safety value. Technological ways of milling and baking may also improve baking quality and nutritional value of organic flour, as well as it prevents mycotoxin contamination. For instance, milling process strongly influences flour characteristics. Stone milling improves nutritive value when characteristics remain very stable independently of the milling yield while flour characteristics from roller milling appear very susceptible to the milling yield. The economic efficiency of the bread wheat sector is also influences by the existence of an adequate marketing structure answering consumers’ requirements. This paper is a contribution of a multidisciplinary group of researchers involved in AGTEC-Org project using peer review, statistical data and interviews of key actors: farmers, advisers or experts (coreorganic.org/research/projects/agtec-org/index.html).

Agronomical ways for better quality and safety Choice of cultivar is an efficient way to obtain higher grain quality. Intercropping legumes (grain or forage) improves weed competition and N availability for wheat crop or succeeding crop. Green manure can be an effective alternative to farmyard manure. Fertilization with readily available nitrogen improves yield and quality when water is available. Reduced tillage affects soil fertility and wheat yield but has little effects on grain quality. Technological ways for better quality and safety Milling process strongly influences flour characteristics. Stone milling improves nutritive value; characteristics remain very stable independent of the milling yield. Flour characteristics from roller milling appear very susceptible to the milling yield. Increasing the milling yield in the aim of enriching nutritional quality has a detrimental effect either on safety (DON) or on bread-making quality (bread volume).

The total organic area in the EU-27 had an annual average growth rate of nearly 15% from 1998 to 2006 with winter wheat being the most important cereal crop. Wheat yield in organic farming is around 30% to 70% of yield of conventional farming but higher premia for organic wheat may to some extent compensate for this. Bread wheat is grown in a variety of crop rotations and farming systems and four basic organic crop production systems have been defined. Nitrogen deficiency and weed infestation are considered to be the most serious threat in organic wheat production. Organic wheat producers will have to fulfil the technological needs of bakers although the requirements differ widely from small artisan bakers to large enterprises handling the organic bread processing. To maintain and expand organic wheat production, there is a need to control weed population, manage nitrogen nutrition and maintain crop diversity in the cropping system. In order to obtain a share in the premium price of organic wheat products, farmers may involve in further processing and marketing.

Wheat bioactive compounds (fibres, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants) are concentrated in grain outer layers, which constitute the bran fraction obtained after the milling process leading to the white flour. In order to improve the health value of the flours, whole grains can be processed or alternatively, bran fractions can be added to white flours. In the bran, bio-actives compounds are poorly bio-accessible as they are trapped in resistant cell-wall. Dry fractionation of wheat bran takes advantage from differences in compositional and mechanical properties between grain tissues. Both ultrafine milling and electrostatic separation can be used to prepare bran fractions with different degrees of micronization and/or enriched in compounds of interest. In vitro digestion studies of bran-enriched breads have shown that the bio-accessibility of phenolic acids and minerals improves with decreasing particle size and also with increasing concentration of micronized aleurone material. © 2010 Sociét é française de nutrition. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Colloque Dinabio mai 2008 à Montpellier; National audience; This programme was developed within a cross-disciplinary approach resulting from five project proposals focusing on the organic wheat, flour and bread sector. More than 30 researchers from nine academic research laboratories, five technical centres, three development agencies and four industrial firms were involved in the project, covering a large area of expertise (from genetics to sociology). The programme adopted a reverse engineering approach, starting from consumer expectations and travelling, link-by-link, up the food chain. A qualitative study of consumer perception and expectations showed that organic bread was perceived as a natural, nourishing and healthy product, and that although its organoleptic characteristics (volume, texture, etc.) were a determining factor, they in no way totally accounted for the quality of the product. Nutritional value and safety must also be taken into consideration, especially in the case of occasional consumers. Based on this study, work was undertaken to find processing conditions to turn grain into flour and flour into bread, which would meet those expectations. New roller milling diagrams were developed at the industrial scale in order to produce flour with higher fibre and micronutrient contents. Studies of the bread-making process have shown that higher levels of lactic acid bacterium production in millstone flour are probably linked to its mineral content. A more acidic environment, due to sourdough fermentation, increases phytasic activity (improving digestibility) and increases mineral bioavailability, including magnesium. Based on those findings, prototype breads were developed and assessed by two panels of 60 people in two different regions of France. The results showed that it was possible to produce bread that satisfied consumers’ sensory and nutritional expectations by adapting the fractionation processes during bread-making according to the characteristics of the wheat. Finally, this programme resulted in a large number of publications and created a dynamic process between participants. It served as the backbone for several complementary satellite programmes that enhanced the original research while being integrated and supported by the project management committee; Une étude qualitative de la perception et des attentes des consommateurs a permis de montrer que le pain biologique était perçu comme un produit naturel, nourrissant et sain et que les caractéristiques organoleptiques (volume, texture…) bien que déterminantes ne pouvaient à elles seules rendre compte de la qualité des produits. Les caractéristiques nutritionnelles et sanitaires sont aussi à considérer, et d’autant plus que l’on s’adresse à des consommateurs occasionnels. A partir de cette analyse, des travaux ont été engagés pour rechercher des conditions de transformation des grains en farine puis des farines en pains qui répondent à ces attentes. Ce programme a été élaboré dans une approche systémique. Il a mobilisé plus de 30 chercheurs de différentes disciplines, de la génétique à la sociologie. Le programme a privilégié une démarche d’ingénierie « reverse » en partant des attentes des consommateurs pour remonter les différents maillons de la filière. Les travaux réalisés ont permis de mettre au point et de valider à l’échelle industrielle de nouveaux diagrammes de mouture qui permettent d’accroître la teneur en fibres et en micro-nutriments des farines. Les études sur le procédé de panification ont montré une production plus importante de bactéries lactiques avec les farines de meules, probablement en lien avec le taux d’amidon endommagé des farines. Une acidification du milieu, due à la fermentation par levain, accroît l’activité phytasique avec pour conséquence d’augmenter la biodisponibilité des minéraux, notamment du magnésium. L’impact des pratiques agronomiques et les perspectives offertes par la sélection génétique ont également été explorés. A partir de ces résultats, la dernière phase du programme a nécessité la collaboration de plusieurs laboratoires pour produire des pains prototypes. Ces pains ont été évalués par 2 panels de 60 personnes dans deux régions françaises. Les résultats obtenus ont montré qu’il était possible d’obtenir des pains satisfaisant les attentes sensorielles et nutritionnelles des consommateurs en ajustant les procédés de fractionnement et de panification aux caractéristiques des blés. Ce programme a créé une dynamique entre les différents partenaires associés à ce projet. Ainsi, il a été l’épine dorsale de plusieurs programmes satellites complémentaires qui ont enrichi les travaux initialement prévus tout en étant intégrés et soutenus par le comité de pilotage

25 ref.; National audience

International audience

chap. 19; National audience

International audience

International audience

National audience

National audience

National audience

National audience

National audience

National audience

Especially in semolina factory, the yield of the milling process depends on the tunning of the roll gap. By computing from image analysis the global textural features, we show that the global image analysis is sensitive to some parameters which influence the yield of a semolina line., Spécialement en semoulerie, le rendement final dépend du réglage de l'écartement des rouleaux des broyeurs. Par analyse texturale des images du produit, nous montrons que l'analyse globale des images est reliée aux paramètres qui influencent le rendement du moulin.