Research Article The Response of Durum Wheat to the Preceding Crop in a Mediterranean Environment

Copyright © 2014 Laura Ercoli et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Crop sequence is an important management practice that may affect durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) production. Field research was conducted in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons in a rain-fed coldMediterranean environment to examine the impact of the preceding crops alfalfa (Medicago sativaL.),maize (ZeamaysL.), sunflower (Helianthus annuusL.), and breadwheat (Triticum aestivum L.) on yield andN uptake of four durumwheat varieties.The response of grain yield of durumwheat to the preceding crop was high in 2007-2008 andwas absent in the 2008-2009 season, because of the heavy rainfall that negatively impacted establishment, vegetative growth, and grain yield of durum wheat due to waterlogging. In the first season, durum wheat grain yield was highest following alfalfa, and was 33 % lower following wheat. The yield increase of durum wheat following alfalfa was mainly due to an increased number of spikes per unit area and number of kernels per spike, while the yield decrease following wheat was mainly due to a reduction of spike number per unit area. Variety growth habit and performance did not affect the response to preceding crop and varieties ranked in the order Levante> Saragolla = Svevo> Normanno. 1