Stability of quality traits in Austrian-grown winter wheats

Stability of breadmaking quality of Austrian-grown quality wheats was inves tigated using rheological parameters from the farinogram (dough development time, stability, degree of softening) and the extensogram (extensibility, maximum resistance, energy), indirect parameters (protein content, wet glut en content, Zeleny sedimentation volume, Hagberg falling number) and the lo af volume. Stability was evaluated for a set of eight cultivars grown in 15 environments in north-eastern Austria. Five stability parameters, covering a wide range of statistical approaches, were used to describe the cultivar s. There was variability for stability of quality in the set of cultivars. Some cultivars were stable for one trait and unstable for another, suggesti ng that the genetic factors involved in genotype by environment interaction s differed between traits. It was possible to identify a check cultivar whi ch was stable for almost all quality traits. The absolute performance of th e cultivars was considered by calculating the reliability of each cultivar as a safety first index. it is demonstrated that quality wheats of Austrian origin show high performance for all quality traits except for degree of s oftening and Hagberg falling number. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.