The organic-conventional trade-off: Grain yield, nutritional composition and quality traits across diverse cereals

This study evaluated the effects of conventional (CONV) and organic (ORG) management on grain yield, nutritional composition and quality traits of winter barley, winter spelt, spring oat and winter wheat over a three-year field experiment. The aim was to identify species-specific productivity-quality relationships and determine the relative contributions of management and seasonal variation to cereal performance. Across all species, CONV management consistently maximised grain yield, with winter barley reaching 7.03 t ha -1 under CONV compared with 3.33 t ha -1 under ORG, and winter wheat producing 6.43 versus 3.17 t ha -1 , respectively. In contrast, ORG management enhanced grain nutritional quality by increasing micronutrient concentrations, particularly Zn, Cu, Fe and Mo; for example, winter wheat under ORG accumulated 39.54 mg kg -1 Zn compared with 26.98 mg kg -1 under CONV, while spring oat exceeded 79 mg kg -1 Fe under ORG conditions. Among the cereals studied, conventional hulled winter barley showed the highest β-glucan content, kernel width and thousand-kernel weight, whereas spring oat had higher fat, fibre and dry matter concentrations. Multivariate analyses showed that species identity was the main determinant of grain quality architecture, substantially outweighing management effects, while year significantly influenced most traits, reflecting strong genotype × environment × management interactions. The findings highlight the need to integrate cereal species selection, productivity and both concentration- and area-based nutritional indicators when designing sustainable cereal production systems.