Buckwheat cultivation in Mediterranean climates; challenges and future outlook.

The introduction of buckwheat into Mediterranean regions would comply with the rising consumer demand for healthy food with a low environmental impact and could be exploited on marginal lands and increase the ecosystem services of modern crop systems. In a set of experiments, we investigated: i) the production of vegetative biomass and grain in response to sowing date and irrigation; ii) the quality of forage obtained from buckwheat; iii) the influence of photothermal conditions on flower and seed set, and iv) the potential invasiveness of buckwheat. Our results highlighted that sowing performed in early spring and at the end of summer are best suited to grain production, whereas late spring and early summer sowings are only suitable for forage, because high temperatures dramatically reduce the seed set. Thus, we can conclude that buckwheat could be profitably grown in temperate Mediterranean regions for the production of forage and grain. Moreover, it is to point out that no risk of invasiveness was found.