Amarillo, Texas
April 5, 2007
Texas wheat offers high quality
when it comes to baking and milling characteristics, said
Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station's state wheat breeder.
Dr. Jackie Rudd, Experiment
Station wheat breeder at Amarillo, received the annual Millers'
Award from Tim Aschbrenner of Cereal Food Processors at the
recent Wheat Quality Council annual meeting in Kansas City.
The award is presented annually in appreciation of breeders who
develop a top quality wheat that is recognized by the milling
industry, according to the Wheat Quality Council.
"This just shows the High Plains can produce high quality wheat
and Texas A&M University varieties are among the best," Rudd
said.
The annual meeting provides a networking opportunity for wheat
breeders and industry personnel to discuss preferred wheat
characteristics and new wheat varieties, Rudd said.
In addition, breeders submit wheat lines for evaluation in
baking, milling, tortilla and noodle quality, he said. This year
51 breeder-submitted wheat lines and checks were submitted for
evaluation.
The two most recent Texas A&M variety releases, TAM 111 and TAM
112, were entered as comparison varieties, along with three
experimental lines, Rudd said. The two varieties were entered to
demonstrate their baking and milling quality.
TAM 112 was released two years ago and TAM 111 was released in
2003, he said. TAM 112 was selected as a good replacement for
TAM 110 with greenbug resistance. It has also shown drought and
wheat streak mosaic tolerance.
TAM 112 and an experimental hard white wheat, TX01A5936,
had two of the highest scores in both baking and milling, he
said. For overall quality scores, the white wheat was rated the
best and earned the Millers' Award.
Only seven of the experimental lines were considered good
tortilla quality, and three of those were Texas A&M lines – TAM
111, TX01A5936 and another experimental, TX01V5314.
TX01V5314 has been proposed for release, Rudd said. It
has above-average baking quality and is recognized for disease
resistance and high grain yield from South Texas to Nebraska. It
is expected to be released this summer.
The excellent showing of the Texas-submitted wheats can be
attributed in part to a good growing environment in 2006, Rudd
said. The samples submitted by Texas A&M were harvested from
strips planted adjacent to irrigated yield trials on Experiment
Station land near Bushland.
Temperatures were above average and rainfall was below average,
he said, so the crop was flood irrigated four times from early
March to early May. Also, no significant diseases infected the
wheat varieties.
Information gained through the Wheat Quality Council program
helps breeders, such as Rudd, determine if they are working in
the right direction and what markets the different wheats should
or could be targeted toward.
"It takes, typically, about 15 years for a variety to go from
the crossing stages to the commercial planting," Rudd said. "For
example, the cross for TAM 112 was made in 1992 and the release
was made in 2005."
The cross for the hard white wheat which was recognized this
year was made in 1995, so Rudd estimates it should be nearing a
release date in the next year or so.
When breeding and selecting wheat varieties for quality, a line
is tested in the first year for visual kernel characteristics
and is characterized as hard or soft, he said. In the second
year of testing, hardness, kernel size and protein content are
checked.
The third year of testing adds dough mixing characteristics to
the list of qualities undergoing scrutiny, and in the fourth
year, bread baking and tortilla making are added, Rudd said.
Testing for hardness, protein content and dough strength is
conducted by Dr. Lloyd Rooney, professor of food science at the
Texas A&M Cereal Quality Laboratory at College Station.
The bread-making quality tests are conducted by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service's Hard
Winter Wheat Quality Laboratory in Manhattan, Kan.
And Dr. Ralph Waniska, a professor of food science and
technology in the Cereal Quality Laboratory, performs the
tortilla-making tests.
Throughout the process, the research is supported by the Texas
Wheat Producers Board, Rudd said.
Info Box About the Experimental Lines:
- TX01A5936: This
hard white winter wheat line is resistant to stripe rust,
susceptible to leaf rust, and offers some wheat streak
mosaic virus resistance. It performs best under High Plains
dryland and limited irrigation conditions. It's relatively
large seeded with a good test weight. Baking data indicates
a short mixing time, average stability and good loaf volume.
- TX01D3232: This
hard red winter wheat variety will be released as TAM
304 this summer. It is resistant to leaf rust and moderately
susceptible to stripe rust. It performs best in the
Blacklands and South Central areas of Texas, but it also
performs well under irrigation in the High Plains. It is
relatively small seeded with less-than-average test weight.
The baking data indicates a long mixing time, good stability
and good loaf volume.
- TX01V5314: This
hard red winter wheat is resistant to leaf rust and stripe
rust. Performance has been excellent throughout the Great
Plains. Due to its high level of foliar disease resistance,
it is well suited for the warmer and more humid wheat
growing areas of Texas. It has an average seed size and
less-than-average test weight. Its baking data generally
indicates a short mixing time, average stability and average
loaf volume.
Writer: Kay Ledbetter |
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