The Effect of Organic and Conventional Cultivation Systems on the Profile of Volatile Organic Compounds in Winter Wheat Grain, Including Susceptibility to Fusarium Head Blight

The grain of 30 winter wheat cultivars differing in terms of their resistance to FHB (Fusarium head blight) was tested. The cultivars were grown in four variants of field trials established in a split-plot design: control without fungicides, chemical control of FHB with fungicides after Fusarium inoculation, Fusarium head inoculation, and organic cultivation. The profile of volatile compounds in grain samples was determined by mean headspace-solid phase microextraction and analyzed by gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectroscopy. The identified volatile profile comprised 146 compounds belonging to 14 chemical groups. The lowest abundance of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was found for the organic cultivation variant. The performed discriminant analysis facilitated the complete separation of grain for individual experimental variants based on the number of VOCs decreasing from 116 through 62, 37 down to 14. The grain from organic farming was characterized by a significantly different VOCs profile than the grain from the other variants of the experiment. The compounds 1-methylcycloheptanol, 2-heptanone, 2(3H)-furanone, and 5-hexyldihydro-2(3H)-furanone showed statistically significant differences between all four experimental variants.

Automated summary

The resistance of 30 winter wheat cultivars to Fusarium head blight (FHB) was tested, and their volatile compound profiles in grain samples were analyzed. The organic cultivation variant had the lowest abundance of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Discriminant analysis successfully separated the grain samples from different experimental variants based on the number of VOCs. The grain from organic farming showed a significantly different VOCs profile compared to the other experimental variants.