| 2015 SWQL Annual Research Review & Soft Wheat Quality Council Joint Conference |
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The first joint meeting of the Soft Wheat Quality Laboratory Annual Research Review & Soft Wheat Quality Council was held Tuesday and Wednesday, March 3-4, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Indianapolis, Indiana. With 73 attendees, the meeting was well received and we thank all who braved the icy roads to be with us. In general, attendees appreciated the combined meeting so we will continue the format in 2016.
SWQL awarded AACCI 2014 Best Overall Quality Evaluation
The Soft Wheat Quality Laboratory is one of 49 laboratories participating in the American Association of Cereal Chemists International (AACCI) Cincinnati Section Monthly Check Sample Evaluation. Different collaborating laboratories provide flour samples and five quality parameters are evaluated at each site. The results are averaged among the cooperating laboratories and the group that most closely adheres to the mean each month is awarded first place. The SWQL is consistently ranked in the top five but is pleased to announce taking first place for 2014 in the overall evaluations. The laboratory also placed first in Falling Number and third in the cookie bake.
Dr. Byung-Kee Baik, Director of the Soft Wheat Quality Laboratory and his research staff presented an update on the SWQL activity and the results of soft wheat quality research over the past year.
- Northern Style Chinese Steamed Bread from Soft Red Winter Wheat, Fengyun Ma, Anne Sturbaum and Byung-Kee Baik
- Factors Affecting Falling Number and a-Amylase Activity on Soft Red Winter Wheat during Storage, Taehyun Ji and Byung-kee Baik
Wheat in Pakistan and Non-chemical extraction of dietary fiber, Asif Ahmad and Byung-Kee Baik - Endosperm Separation from Bran vs. Flour Yield, Byung-Kee Baik and Lingyan Kong
Cake Baking Test for Non-Chlorinated Flour, Byung-Kee Baik & Tom Donelson
Five invited speakers stimulated conversations about soft wheat quality, laboratory techniques breeding and the soft wheat market. We were especially pleased to introduce the new wheat breeder at Purdue University, Mohsen Mohammadi, replacing Herb Ohm.
- Gang Guo, Director Wheat Research & Quality, Ardent Mills
Correlation between whole wheat bread consumer hedonic scores and quantitative descriptive analysis results - Andrew Ross, Professor, Oregon State University
Research update from Oregon State University: Validation and exploration, from Falling Number to oxidative gelation and beyond. - Stephen Delwiche, Scientist/Agriculture Engineer, USDA-ARS
Hyperspectral imaging for grain quality/imaging of single seeds/identifying the sources of variation in the falling number procedure - Mohsen Mohammadi, University of Minnesota/Purdue University
Challenges and Opportunities in Breeding High Yielding and Disease Resistant Wheat Varieties with Superior Quality - Joe Anderson, Agronomy, Department Head, Purdue University
U.S. and Global Wheat Markets and Prospects for GM and Hybrid Wheat
A panel of experts discussed the usefulness and meaning of protein as a quality measure.
A single entry was received for the 2015 Bill Yamazaki Student Poster Competition - Shaylyn Wiarda was awarded a $100 cash prize for her poster:
The effects of the tiller inhibition gene in winter wheat
Authors: Shaylyn Wiarda, Herbert Ohm, and Steve Scofield
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with the 'Gigas' or 'Big Ear' characteristics are easy to distinguish from other commercial wheat. The main distinguishing characteristics for 'Gigas' wheat include: uniculm plants, large number of spikelets per spike and thick stem. The reduction in tillering is due to a single recessive gene, designated tin, for tiller inhibition. The tin gene located on wheat chromosome 1AS. It has been reported that spring wheat lines containing the tin gene had a 90% reduction in tillering when planted during the spring and summer, but if planted during late fall/winter the effect was only 30-50% reduction in tillering.
In order to investigate the effect of the tin gene in a winter wheat background two sets of crosses were made. The first being a three-way cross between a CIMMYT line containing the tin gene, a large spike adapted winter wheat line from Purdue, and a profuse-tillering line. Our goal was to produce a population that exhibited a wide range of traits for tillering, spike size, stem diameter, etc. The second cross was between a landrace from Afghanistan that produces a large ear and another large spike adapted winter wheat line from Purdue. From this cross, our goal was to look at another source for the large spike characteristics to be used for breeding purposes.
Our preliminary observations indicate that in winter wheat genetic backgrounds the reduction in tillering effect of the tin gene is not as significant as in spring wheat; while the spike size, kernels/spikelet and stem diameter are increased, as seen in spring wheat. Our hypothesis is that in winter wheat, we can achieve moderate increase in spike size, kernels/spike, kernel weight and stem diameter; with only a moderate reduction in tillering. Through plant breeding techniques, our goal is to combine these traits that provide underutilized variation with current high yielding components to improve yield potential.
