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Abstract

This study is designed to investigate the relationships between disease control and green leaf area duration on grain yield and quality for the production of alcohol from winter wheat.

Description

Traditionally distilling wheat in the UK has been grown for the Scotch whisky industry. This market requires an annual production of 700,000 tonnes of wheat to produce approximately 300,000,000 litres of alcohol each year.¹ There is growing interest in the production of distilling wheat for the emerging fuel alcohol market. Fuel alcohol, commonly known as bioethanol is produced using similar techniques to those used by the potable alcohol industry. Growing interest in biofuels has led to concerns over the production of large areas of non-food crops threatening the availability and affordability of food.² There have also been concerns over the amount of CO₂ emitted during the production and processing of the fuel.³ If biofuels are to be produced it is important to address these concerns by maximising efficiency both in the field and during processing. Achieving a high level of alcohol production per hectare will help minimise the cultivated area of non-food crops, easing pressures on both food production and the environment. Maximising the efficiency of crop production can also help limit the amount of CO₂ emitted during production. Achieving a high grain alcohol yield (litres of alcohol [LA] per tonne) will also help maximise processing efficiency helping to reduce energy requirements. To achieve these objectives it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the agronomic factors which influence alcohol production. Previous investigations have studied relationships between disease control, green flag leaf area duration and grain quality ^{4, 5}; however none have investigated the influence of these factors upon alcohol yield. This study is therefore designed to expand on what is known to determine how these factors influence the production of alcohol.