A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF THE QUALITY OF SOFT WHEATS FROM CANADA, AUSTRALIA, AND THE UNITED-STATES

Although considerable research has been done on soft wheats, little ha s been published on comparisons of soft wheats from different countrie s, and none that include Canadian soft wheats. The purpose of this stu dy was to compare the composition and functional properties of a small sample set of representative Canadian-grown soft wheat varieties with those of soft wheats from Australia and the United States. Three Cana dian-grown varieties, three Australian varieties, and five U.S. variet ies were analyzed for purity, milling quality, protein content, starch content, alpha-amylase activity, and functionality by technical analy sis. A correlation matrix was used to determine intercorrelations betw een all tests. The cookie quality of the Canadian-grown soft wheats wa s comparable to that of the U.S. soft wheats and the Australian soft w heat variety Tincurrin. Australian standard white (ASW) varieties Erad u and Rosella were harder and had medium dough strength that different iated them from the others. ASW wheats also had good starch pasting ch aracteristics, which is important for noodle quality. The statistical correlation data showed that the tests most highly correlated with coo kie quality were alveograph, farinograph, alkaline water-retention cap acity (AWRC), starch damage, and hardness parameters. Further research in this area with a larger sample set would overcome the influence of environmental factors in a comparative study bf this nature.