Successful cropping of durum wheat

Pasta industry has high demands regarding the durum quality. In Germany, protein content > 14 % is demanded coupled with good protein quality measured with the gluten index. Consequently, intensive field production with high amount of fertilizers is necessary to fulfill these requirements. Furthermore, a vitreousity of > 75% and a falling number > 220 sec is demanded by German millers representing key limitation for a successful German durum production. Rain around harvest irreversible destroys these quality parameters. Thus, farmers must adapt to it by threshing durum already with around 20% moisture and drying afterwards. For durum, spring and winter forms exist now and only the winter forms are able to survive longer periods of frost. We recommend the use of herbicides, fungicides and growth regulators enabling yields of up to 7 tons per ha. Organic production of durum is feasible but owing to a low competiveness against herbs, a poor disease resistance and the high demands of pasta índustry to protein content and quality, we recommend farmers to do it only with adequate cropping contracts taking the mentioned challenges in account.