Models of growing season weather impacts on breadmaking quality of spring wheat from producer fields in western Canada

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to quantify growing season weather and wheat quality at individual producer fields to understand weather impacts and develop weather‐based models of spring wheat quality.RESULTS: Ninety‐six hard red spring wheat samples of two genotypes supplied by western Canadian producers in 2003 and 2004 underwent comprehensive analysis for breadmaking quality. For each individual field, daily rainfall, maximum and minimum air temperature were observed and used to calculate several measures of heat. Modeled water use, demand and stress were also calculated and all weather variables were accumulated over different phenological stages. Relationships between weather variables and wheat quality variables were determined by multivariate regression analysis separated into four steps, each adding more complex information into the models. There was substantial variation in weather conditions and wheat quality between years with generally higher quality and stronger dough in the warmer and drier year, 2003. The two genotypes displayed many differences in response to the environment. Prediction of wheat quality improved with increasing complexity of weather models and close to 50% of the variation in quality could be explained by multivariate models.CONCLUSIONS: Results showed that even for top‐grade milling wheat of similar protein content, significant differences exist in breadmaking quality of wheat from different farms. The improvement in r2 when using modeled environmental variables indicates that crop water use and water stress are important for wheat quality. The development of Canada Western Red Spring quality prediction models for western Canada based on growing season weather shows promise. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry