Chapter 8 - Wheat quality: Wheat breeding and quality testing in Australia

Abstract

During the past decade in Australia, state-of-the-art farming systems, new varieties, and new techniques have increased the reliability of grain production in Australia's growing environment. Climate and weather patterns as well as soil type effectively split Australia into two major grain cropping regions—northern and southern and two crop growing periods—winter and summer. Wheat accounts for majority of Australian grain production. Australia produces about 25 million metric tons of wheat each year which accounts for about 3%–4% of world wheat production and 10%–15% of global wheat exports. About 65%–75% of Australia's total wheat production is exported each year, with Western Australia the largest producing and exporting state. The classification of a wheat variety into a marketing class comprising varieties displaying similar and complementary quality characteristics is the fundamental step in the production of marketable wheat classes. Other factors such as physical and analytical standards are also applied at grain receival which together with the inherent processing characteristics of the grain itself, combine to produce a recognizable and consistently performing product to take to the market. The underlining feature of the Australian classification is the comparison of new candidate lines with established control varieties grown in properly structured trials, the detailed evaluation of samples in prescribed laboratories employing standard methods, and the classification of those lines into quality-based categories which then form lists of varieties for the use of growers. This chapter will cover review of breeding and quality efforts while focusing on future trends in wheat breeding, wheat quality testing, and bread baking.