Variations of wheat quality in China in recent 10 years Abstract uri icon

abstract

  • In this paper, the authors intended to give an overview of wheat quality with strong gluten, medium-strong gluten, medium gluten and weak gluten in wheat producing regions of China in recently 10 years, and to discuss the problems and solutions for wheat quality. A total of 7,561 samples of 742 wheat cultivars were collected from wheat producing regions of China in 2006-2015, and the variety structure was summed up, and testing weight, protein content, wet gluten content, sedimentation volume, and dough rheological properties were determined. The testing results showed that wheat variety structure had some improvement which the proportion of wheat cultivars with strong gluten (12.6%), medium-strong gluten (16.7%), medium gluten (68.7%) and weak gluten wheat (2.0%) remained stable in years, and the proportion of each type of wheat samples reached 21.0%, 16.9%, 49.4% and 2.0%, respectively, while the proportion of wheat samples with each type reaching the standards was less (4.8%, 4.6%, 25.0%, and 0.4%, respectively). Each type of wheat samples varied among years, i.e., the proportion of strong gluten wheat and weak gluten wheat declined, while the medium gluten wheat and medium-strong gluten wheat increased in recent years. The medium gluten wheat is qualified as the relatively high protein quantity and low protein quality, but the sedimentation volume and dough rheological properties decreased slightly in years. The quality of wheat cultivars with strong gluten, medium-strong gluten and medium gluten remained stable, which the trends of sedimentation volume and dough rheological properties were similar, while the weak gluten wheat declined in quality due to the mean value of protein content, wet gluten content and sedimentation volume increased. There were distinct differences among the four types in quality, which the mean value of testing weight declined from medium strong gluten to strong gluten, and to medium gluten and weak gluten, protein content and wet gluten content declined from strong gluten to medium gluten, and to medium-strong gluten and weak gluten, sedimentation volume and dough rheological properties declined from strong gluten to medium-strong gluten, and to medium gluten and weak gluten. The change in average of quality traits among the four types was also different, of which the change range of sedimentation volume and dough rheological properties declined from strong gluten to medium-strong gluten, and to medium gluten and weak gluten. Chinese wheat variety structure had some improvement, and the proportion of different types reaching the standards was less, which indicated there was much room for improvement of quality. In order to improve the quality of wheat by optimizing the structure of variety, it should increase the quality of breeding high-yielding wheat varieties and promotion efforts, optimize the regional distribution of approved varieties, and intensify policy support and so on.

publication date

  • September 2022