The use of a non-invasive electrical method to assess the chemical composition, hardness, and color of durum wheat grain cultivated in an integrated system.

The aim of this research was: (1) to assess the effect of an integrated cultivation system of native durum wheat (6 variants), differentiated by a nitrogen fertilization dose (0, 80, 120 kg.ha -1 ) and growth regulator use (Medax 350 SC, with growth regulator - GR, without growth regulator - WGR) on changes in selected quality parameters (protein, lipid, and starch contents; hardness; color) and electrical parameters (conductive - Z and capacitive - C p , C s ) of the grain; and (2) to determine the correlations between the examined quality traits and electrical properties of the grain to indicate the possibility of using a non-invasive electrical method to assess grain quality. The grain of durum wheat cultivated in the six variants tested differed mainly in the starch and lipid contents, which indicates the feasibility of tailored optimization of grain production. The highest contents of starch and total lipids, and the highest grain hardness were obtained in the cultivation variants GR+0N and WGR+0N, whereas the highest protein content - upon wheat fertilization with 120N. The study demonstrated a different strength of the correlations between the tested parameters depending on the cultivation method (WGR-GR; N: 0, 80, 120 kg.ha -1 ). In the WGR+0N variant (environmentally friendly), the strongest correlation between grain quality traits and electrical properties was obtained for both the conductive (Z) and capacitive (C p , C s ) parameters in the entire analyzed range of current frequencies. The GR application during cultivation hampers the possibility of using electrical parameters to assess grain quality. In turn, the quality of the grain produced WGR can be effectively assessed using the Z, C p , and C s parameters in the entire measuring frequency range (1 kHz-1MHz), while in the variant with GR, only impedance (Z), measured at high frequencies (100 kHz, 1MHz) can be used.