WHEAT QUALITY EVALUATION. 4. VARIABILITY IN GROSS ENERGY CONTENT

Abstract

A population of 26 wheat cultivars of diverse origin was evaluated for crude protein, ether extract, crude fiber, gross energy, ash, kernel hardness, 1,000-kernel weight and hectoliter weight. Similar measurements were made on nine cultivars from the 1971 Canadian Eastern Cooperative Spring Wheat trial. With the exception of crude protein, the ranges of values were narrow for the chemical constituents considered. This was especially true for gross energy where cultivar differences were nonsignificant. Heritabilities were low for all chemical constituents. It was concluded that insufficient genetic variation exists in the chemical constituents of standard strains of wheat grain to significantly alter its gross energy content by selection. Moreover, the previously demonstrated absence of variation in the digestibility coefficient indicates that available energy of wheat grain also can not be altered by genetic manipulation of chemical composition.