Rheological properties of wheat varieties with different endosperm structures

Abstract

Ten soft red and ten hard red winter wheat varieties grown in Hungary were involved in a three-year experiment (1997-1999) to characterise their rheological properties (Brabender Farinograph, 10 gram-Mixograph, and Chopin Alveograph), gluten and protein contents (Inframatic 8611), and kernel hardness (Perten SKCS 4100). Ten mixograph parameters were selected in order to maintain a good representation of dough properties. The correlations between the endosperm structure and the rheological quality were examined using variance analysis with one and two factors. The difference between the hardness index of hard and soft varieties was strongly significant (P < 0.001). Hard wheat varieties had significantly higher protein content, water absorption, P and W values, mixograph value and with at the 8 th minute, and area under the curve (P < 0.05) in all three years than the soft wheats. The endosperm structure had a significant effect on almost every parameter with the exception of alveograph G and L values, farinograph quality number (QN), gluten spread and kernel weight. Among the years, there were only significant differences in wet gluten content, protein content, QN and kernel weight. The interaction of the two factors influenced QN.