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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #105553
Title: PROTEIN FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENCES IN EASTERN U.S. SOFT WHEAT CULTIVARS AND INTERRELATION WITH END USE QUALITY TESTS

Author
item FINNEY, PATRICK
item BAINS, G - RETIRED

Submitted to: Lebensmittel Wissenschaft und Technologie
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/24/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Published concern for the presence of strong dough mixing protein in soft wheat cultivars appears to be unjustified. Indeed, in this study the dough mixing strength was positively correlated with the soft wheat milling quality parameters and cookie quality. The three cultivars with the strong dough mixing characteristics excelled compared to the five cultivars having the weak dough mixing characteristics in their milling, baking and lower damaged starch contents. That emphasizes the importance of protein quality (mixing strength) in soft wheat and not protein content per se. If published recommendations to discard potential commercial wheat cultivars were based on their strong dough mixing properties a decade or more ago, some of the best milling- and baking-cultivars ever released, including the better ones in the present study, would have been rejected. This research shows that both cookies and superior crackers can be formulated with eastern soft wheat flours. Thus, soft wheat breeders benefit by having higher percentages of their lines considered acceptable by millers and bakers. And, millers and bakers benefit by saving transportation costs of moving hard wheats from central US to eastern mills by purchasing soft wheat with strong dough-mixing characteristics.

Technical Abstract: Fifty nine eastern soft wheats (eight cultivars) were investigated for milling, baking and predictive tests of quality. Three of the cultivars with 5+10 Glu-D1 high molecular weight subunit (HMW-s) composition yielded significantly higher (P=0.01) break flour, lower damaged starch, lower gluten hydration, longer dough mixing times and larger diameter cookies with superior top grain compared to those of five cultivars with 2+12 Glu-D1 HMW-s composition. Dough development time and gluten hydration tests showed significant correlations with the milling parameters and flour damaged starch. Because of highly significant correlation coefficient (r=0.94, n=59) of Zeleny sedimentation values with SDS test, either can be used to test the strength of protein in the soft wheat flours. For better prediction of end use quality, the results suggest integration of protein/gluten functionality testing with existing tests as an important facet of quality testing in soft wheats. Thus, published concern for the presence of 5 + 10 Glu-D1 HMW-s in U.S. soft wheat cultivars, based on the belief that bread and pastry qualities are mutually exclusive, is unjustified. On the contrary, if recommendations to discard strong gluten soft wheat lines on the basis of their 5+10 Glu-D1 HMW-s composition profiles had been applied to the breeding programs in the eastern half of the U.S. a decade or more ago, some of the best cultivars ever released, including the better ones in the present study, would have been rejected.