Project Number: 5442-43440-011-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Jun 03, 2010
End Date: Jun 02, 2015

Objective:
The ultimate goal is to enhance the quality of U.S. wheat for domestic and overseas markets. Objectives are to: identify milling, baking, and pasta processing traits of experimental and advanced lines of hard spring and durum wheat that impact end-use quality and the overall development and release of new commercial cultivars of wheat; and identify specific biochemical components in wheat that are associated with end-use baking quality traits. More specifically, the latter objective includes: to develop rapid methods to characterize proteins, which are initially important for predicting end-use quality; to determine the variation in free asparagine content in wheat, which is an important precursor for the formation of carcinogenic acrylamide during bread baking and toasting; and to identify the efficacy and impact of sulfur fertilization on end-use baking quality of hard spring wheat.

Approach:
Approximately 4000 hard spring and 1000 durum wheat experimental lines will be submitted by Federal, State, and private breeders, and special interest groups on an annual basis and evaluated for end-use quality. Wheat will be obtained from different generations of development in specific breeding programs, which will include early-generation, preliminary, and advanced lines and include commercial cultivars as controls. Measureable end-use quality traits include test weight, size, seed weight, sprout damage, physical evidence of disease, and protein and ash content; milling performance as a function of flour and semolina yield; flour and semolina color, protein, and ash content; dough strength properties; bread baking quality; and pasta processing quality. The Fargo Genotyping Laboratory will identify quantitative trait loci regions associated with end-use quality, primarily kernel and dough strength traits on selected hard spring wheat samples. Research will be conducted on the rapid characterization of protein extracts from wheat and flour by testing two different protein extraction methods. Variation in free asparagine content in wheat lines will be measured. The efficacy and impact of sulfur fertilization on end-use baking quality of hard spring wheat, specifically protein composition and amino acid profiles, will be determined as a function of dough strength characteristics.