CORRELATION BETWEEN HIGH-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT GLUTEN SUBUNITS COMPOSITIONAND BREAD-MAKING QUALITY IN BRAZILIAN WHEAT

Bread-making quality is one of the most important targets in the genet ic improvement of wheat. Although extensive analyses of quality traits such as farinography, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) sedimentation, alv eography, and baking are made in breeding programs, these analyses req uire high amounts of seeds which are obtained only in late generations . In this experiment the statistical correlations between the high mol ecular weight subunit of glutenin and bread-making quality measured by alveograph, farinograph and SDS sedimentation were evaluated. Sevente en wheat genotypes were grown under the same conditions, each producin g about 1 kg of seeds for the evaluations. The high molecular weight ( HMW) glutenin subunits were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. Statistical correlat ions were highly significant between HMW glutenin subunits and alveogr aph and SDS sedimentation. These results indicate the possibility of m anipulating major genes for wheat seed quality by coupling traditional breeding with non-destructive single seed analysis. Only half seed is necessary to perform the SDS-PAGE analysis. Therefore, the other half seed can be planted to generate the progeny. Seed yield and SDS sedim entation were statistically correlated, indicating the possibility of simultaneous selection for both traits.