DURUM-WHEAT QUALITY - COMPARISON OF CHEMICAL AND RHEOLOGICAL SCREENING-TESTS WITH SENSORY ANALYSIS

Various chemical and physical screening tests to predict pasta cooking quality in a durum wheat breeding program were evaluated using sensor y methods. Twelve durum wheat varieties were field grown in three cons ecutive years, milled into semolina and then processed into spaghetti using low temperature drying. Correlations between protein content and sensory scores were not consistent among the 3 years, and protein con tent did not correlate with any of the tests used to predict pasta coo king quality. Cooked pasta disc viscoelasticity measurements were reli able predictors of sensory quality. Sedimentation values (SV) and cook ed gluten viscoelasticity (CGV) were significantly correlated with che winess in 2 of the 3 years. Mixing total energy (MTE) and mixing peak height (MPH) values obtained using a Mixograph were the best predictor s for chewiness (CH) and firmness (FI). Dione of the tests correlated with adhesiveness to teeth (AD), which suggests that it is an unrelate d parameter. Because the Mixograph test is simple, requires relatively small sample size and the results obtained are highly correlated with sensory data, it is the most useful test to predict the end use quali fy of durum wheat in a breeding program. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limit ed