Pan bread and dry white Chinese noodle quality in Chinese winter wheats

Abstract

Improvements in pan bread quality and Chinese dry white noodle (DWCN) quality are the major breeding objectives in the north China winter wheat region. Eighty-one wheat cultivars and advanced lines were sown in two locations in the 2000–2001 season to evaluate the quality of winter wheat germplasm and investigate the association between pan bread quality and DWCN quality. Significant variability was observed for grain, pan bread, and DWCN quality attributes. Six cultivars and lines showed very good pan bread quality, 23 showed excellent DWCN quality in both locations, and the cultivars Yumai 34 and Sunstate showed superior quality for both food products. Protein content and grain hardness were significantly associated with pan bread quality, while the gluten quality-related parameters SDS-sedimentation value, Farinograph stability, and Extensograph maximum resistance, were significantly associated with pan bread quality score, and accounted for 59.3–72.3% of its variation. Yellow colour (b, CIE Lab) showed a strong negative association with pan bread and DWCN quality largely due to the strong and negative association between yellow colour and gluten strength parameters in this germplasm pool. Flour ash content and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) had a negative moderate effect on noodle colour, while protein content and grain hardness were negatively associated with noodle colour, appearance, and smoothness. The association between SDS-sedimentation volume, Farinograph stability, and Extensograph maximum resistance and DWCN score fitted a quadratic regression model, accounting for 31.0%, 39.0%, and 47.0% of the DWCN score, respectively. The starch pasting parameters, peak viscosity and paste breakdown, contributed positively to DWCN quality, with r = 0.57 and 0.55, respectively. Quality requirements for pan bread and DWCN differ in colour, gluten strength, and pasting viscosity. It is suggested that PPO, yellow pigment, SDS sedimentation volume, and peak viscosity are parameters that could be used to screen for DWCN quality in the early generations of a wheat-breeding program.