Durum Wheat Overview
Durum wheat is of significance as a food crop being used to make pasta, couscous, burghul, puddings, bread (flat and leavened) and other traditional foods. The main durum producers are the EU, North America (including Mexico) Middle East, North Africa, the former Soviet Union, and India. Durum is widely adapted and it is mostly grown in semiarid regions. Grain, semolina, and pasta making qualities are important attributes of durum varieties, and these form the important breeding objectives together with yield, disease resistance, and abiotic stress tolerance. Durum is self pollinated and therefore pedigree breeding, modified to suit practical requirements, is commonly used. While many modern durum varieties are high grain protein achievers, it is still necessary to manage nitrogen nutrition. Durum crops are commonly rotated with broad leaved crops to reduce incidence of diseases. Modern durum varieties in Australia and North America have good resistance levels to all three rusts, but significant improvement is needed in crown rot and Fusarium head blight tolerance. However, in EU countries, there is significant reliance on fungicide sprays for controlling all these diseases. While world durum production is quite low compared with bread wheat, it has a bright future as it is used to produce healthy, low glycemic index foods, such as pasta. World demand for pasta has increased rapidly in recent years indicating a rising demand for durum wheat.