Assessment of the potential bread baking quality of New Zealand wheats by RP-HPLC of glutenins

Abstract

Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography provides a method for rapid and accurate analysis of a large number of samples of wheat protein. This paper describes the comparison of the quantity of specific glutenin fractions in a given sample with the loaf volume and general bread baking score previously determined for that sample. Regression equations relating these glutenin fractions and the baking quality parameters have high coefficients of determination. The 95 % prediction limits allow discrimination of poor, average and high baking-quality flours. These regression equations were used in blind tests to predict the baking quality of twenty flours. This method could provide a rapid method to analyse for the bread baking potential of new wheat varieties if the quantification could be extrapolated to as little as one-half a kernel.