RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BAKING AND NOODLE QUALITY IN HARD WHITE SPRING WHEAT

There is growing interest in the use of hard white wheat (Triticum aes tivum L.) for both the production of oriental noodles and making bread . It would be desirable if new hard white wheat cultivars produced flo ur suitable for both purposes, Our objective was to address the feasib ility of developing such dual purpose white wheats, We tested several hard white spring wheat lines grown in three locations in Montana for quality characteristics associated with both end-use products, The har d white spring wheat lines had bread-making quality similar to that ob served for high quality hard red spring wheat check cultivars, The har d white spring wheat flours differed from Australian Standard White by producing significantly harder noodles that were not as bright, parti cularly after 24 h of noodle storage, Significant variation existed am ong the hard white lines for noodle color, suggesting selection during breeding might improve color characteristics. However, superior noodl e color was correlated with low protein in two environments and with p oor loaf volume in one environment, The challenge facing breeders in t he development of dual purpose hard white spring wheats will be to imp rove noodle characteristics while maintaining good bread-making qualit ies.