Dual-purpose utilization (herbage + grain) of ancient wheats and old durum wheat cultivars provides an interesting option for mixed farming systems in Mediterranean environments. Interest towards these species is partly due to their low nitrogen (N) requirements, but little information is available about their N economy, particularly under dual-purpose utilization.

In this two-year field trial carried out in Sardinia (Italy), we assessed whether the morpho-physiological differences between emmer, einkorn, durum and Khorasan wheat translated into different N economies, and whether these economies were differentially impacted by dual-purpose utilization.

At both clipping and anthesis, biomass accumulation played a key role in the genotypic variability in N uptake. At clipping, einkorn cultivars had produced the greatest amount of biomass and removed the greatest amount of N (74 kg ha⁻¹) thanks to their late terminal spikelet; whereas Cappelli, Khorasan and Padre Pio showed the greatest biomass production and N uptake at anthesis (212 kg ha⁻¹) owing to their tallness and morphology. The large genotypic variation observed in total N uptake at anthesis levelled off at maturity, mainly because of the N losses occurring at the canopy level after anthesis in cultivars Cappelli, Khorasan and Padre Pio. On average, clipped crops showed a lower (by about 46 kg ha⁻¹) total N uptake at maturity compared with unclipped crops, but dual-purpose utilization did not negatively affect the N uptake if the N removed by clipping was taken into account. Clipping did not negatively affect N partitioning to the grain as the N harvest index increased after clipping as a consequence of the increased harvest index.

古代小麦和硬质小麦品种的双重用途（草本+谷物）为地中海环境中的混合农业系统提供了一个有趣的选择。对这些物种的兴趣部分归因于其对氮（N）的低需求，但很少获得有关其氮经济性的信息，尤其是在双重用途利用下。

在撒丁岛（意大利）进行的为期两年的田间试验中，我们评估了Emmer，einkorn，Durum和Khorasan小麦之间的形态生理差异是否转化为不同的N经济体，以及这些经济体是否受到双重用途利用的差异影响。

在修剪和开花期，生物量积累在氮吸收的基因型变异中起关键作用。剪接时，由于晚穗小穗，einkorn品种产生了最大量的生物质，并去除了最多的N（74 kg ha ^-1）。而Cappelli，Khorasan和Padre Pio因其高大和形态，在花期（212 kg ha ^-1）表现出最大的生物量生产和氮吸收。在花期总氮吸收上观察到的较大的基因型变异在成熟时趋于平稳，这主要是由于花后Cappelli，Khorasan和Padre Pio品种在冠层水平发生了氮损失。平均而言，修剪的农作物减产（约46 kg ha ^-1）与未修剪的作物相比，成熟时的总N吸收量大，但如果考虑到修剪去除的N，双重用途利用不会对N的吸收产生负面影响。修剪不会对氮分配到谷物造成负面影响，因为修剪后由于收获指数的增加，收获的氮的收获指数会增加。