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Nei secoli passati, in un contesto agricolo prevalentemente di sussistenza, anche la paglia, scarto della coltivazione dei cereali, era una risorsa preziosa. La frazione meno pregiata, non adatta all'alimentazione del bestiame, divenne combustibile per i forni da pane. Questa strategia portò alla diffusione nel subappennino Dauno, Capitanata (Puglia) e zone limitrofe, di forni a paglia in alternativa a quelli a legna che era risparmiata per altri usi. I forni a paglia erano costituiti da due livelli, quello in alto riservato alla cottura e quello in basso utilizzato per la combustione della paglia. I due livelli erano messi in comunicazione da un foro centrale sul piano di cottura. A fuoco spento si procedeva ad infornare il pane tipicamente di grossa pezzatura. Il pane impastato in casa una volta alla settimana, era ottenuto prevalentemente da grano duro e aveva una lunga durevolezza come si addiceva alla vita contadina.

The worldwide common bean production has significantly increased in the past three decades, except in Europe where it is dropped. Nowadays, about half of beans consumed in Europe is imported. In the Mediterranean basin, the major common bean productions and consumptions are recorded in Spain, Italy and Greece, where a myriad of landraces survive on-farm. Actions to safeguard this germplasm cannot be disregarded, since Europe is considered a secondary centre of diversification of this species. Moreover, there is the need to increase the plant tolerance to drought, in view of expansion of water-stressed lands in the Mediterranean basin. Rapid progress in breeding for resistances has strongly reduced the effects of pests and diseases.

During the last two decades, our research activities have been focused on four different topics: 1) evaluation and characterization of wild and cultivated genetic resources using multidisciplinary approaches; 2) selection of genotypes having useful genetic, agronomic, quality and nutritional traits; 3) production of useful pre-breeding lines; 4) support to local communities to promote the cultivation in the traditional areas of the local varieties (on-farm conservation) with interesting agronomic performance and good nutritional and technological traits. The target seed components investigated are: o for legumes: anti-nutritionals, toxic factors, non-protein amino acids, and protein fractions with high functional value (enzymes, enzyme inhibitors); o for cereals: gluten and waxy proteins associated to nutritional, functional and technological aspects of flour and/or semolina; macro and micro elements in whole and refined flour. Genetic variation at wheat and bean protein loci, seed storage protein composition, technological and nutritional quality, agronomic performances, aptitude to industrial processing are investigated by several biochemical techniques, such as, one and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (1D- and 2D-PAGE), capillary electrophoresis (CE), reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), gas-chromatography (GC), spectrophotometric dosages, molecular markers and proteomic approaches. Characterisation and valorisation of legume and cereal genetic resources allow to acquire useful information to plain appropriate actions of safeguard and management of germplasm collections, as well as to support the request of quality marks for specific local varieties. Moreover, the identification of segments of genetic resources carrying out useful traits, is essential to direct breeder programs during the pre-breeding selection. Case-studies of utilisation and valorisation of genetic resources will be illustrated, along with the participation to research projects supported by private and public institutions.