Today, there is a growing interest for special (ancient) wheat species with functional features due to some chronic diseases related to human nutrition. There are evidences that the ancient Triticum species have better health-related nutritional profiles than modern cultivars of bread wheat, and some of them have remarkable functional features. In this study, we have tested the milling and flour quality of 30 accessions of our gene bank (9 hexaploids 19 tetraploids and 2 diploids) and 2 spelt variety candidates which were grown in a series of field trials for 2 years in Szeged. T. spelta lines had thousand-grain weight of 28.8–40 g, grain hardness of 16–51, crude protein content of 14.1–17.4%, Zeleny sedimentation value of 10–30 ml, flour yield of 53.1–67.8%, wet gluten content of 29.6–39.1%, farinographic value varied between 30.1–76.7 and falling number between 328–461 s. T. turgidum strains had thousand-grain weight of 23.8–50.9 g, grain hardness of 52–93, crude protein content of 10.9–17.9%, Zeleny value of 11–43 ml, flour yield of 47.7–72.2%, wet gluten content of 28.8–38%, farinographic value varied from 39.2 to 54.8 and falling number from 411 to 565 s. T. dicoccon accessions had thousand-grain weight of 18–40.6 g, grain hardness of 75–98, crude protein content of 14.4–18.7%, Zeleny value of 10–25 ml, flour yield of 47.8–62.3%, wet gluten content 27.5–42.2%, with a farinographic value of 15.2–54.8 and a falling number of 406–507 s. The year effect was significant in case of grain physical properties and falling number, and slightly effected the quantity and quality of proteins as well. Significant variability between species also manifested in farinograph properties.

In the case of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber content, similarly to common wheat, we measured high values and found some species where low fructan content values were obtained. The fructan content of the tested strains ranged from 0.6 to 1.7%. One line of T. spelta and one accession of T. turgidum had a promising low fructan content: 0.8 and 0.6% respectively. This indicates that the studied ancient species have valuable nutritional potential. The results provide – with agronomic properties as well – information for the breeders, which species are suitable and worthy to include in breeding program. The uncommon technological behavior of these strains should be taken into consideration in case of functional food purposes.

Keywords: quality of wheat species, grain physical properties, technological values, dietary fibre, fructan