The Italian agriculture is trying to diversify its cereal cropping, also by reintroducing old varieties still present in the traditional Italian diet. Particularly, the "farro" seems to have good chances to succeed. The term farro (emmer) is generally, but incorrectly, used for three cultivated-hulled wheat species: Triticum monococcum (einkorn), T. dicoccum (emmer) and T. spelta (spelt). In this paper we refer to Triticum dicoccum. If the emmer cultivation spread again in Italy, fair amounts of straw will be available together with the grain. The straw could be exploited for the production of papermaking pulps thus increasing the overall value of the crop. The field experiment was carried out at the Cereal Research Institute, Inviolatella farm, Rome, Italy. Two emmer native varieties ("Leonessa" and "Garfagnana") were sown at the density of 240 plants/m(2). The average hulled grain yield was 1.7 t/ha for "Leonessa" and 2.0 t/ha(1) for "Garfagnana"; the average straw yield (DM) was 8.0 t/ha and 6/8 t/ha for "Leonessa" and "Garfagnana, respectively. The Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato evaluated the straw of the two emmer native varieties fro papermaking attitude; each sample of straw was analysed for the chemical characteristics. Then, the material was pulped with an alkali-oxygen process. The process yield and the papermaking properties of pulps were determined. As a whole, the emmer straw pulps showed better performances than wheat straw pulp and the results indicate the emmer straw, the agricultural residue of the crop, can be exploited as a papermaking raw material.
