2001 AACC Annual Meeting Charlotte, North Carolina October 14-18, 2001 Charlotte Convention Center

The effect of a low amylose content (waxy wheats) and bread quality has been reported but the effect of low amylose on pasta quality is not known. A possible benefit of specialised waxy durum wheat is a reduced cooking loss. This research aimed to evaluate the pasta making quality of null-4A durum wheat lines developed by our group. Granule-bound starch synthase catalyses the synthesis of amylose in wheat endosperm starch. In durum wheats, the genes encoding GBSS are present at the two Wx loci on chromosome 7A and 4A (a segment of 7B that has been translocated). Several null Wx-B1 durum lines were produced from crosses with null-4A bread wheats backcrossed to durum wheats. Semolina milled from 8 normal and 7 null-4A durum wheat lines grown over two seasons. The null-4A lines had ~5% lower amylose content, higher starch peak viscosities and semolina swelling power. The pasta derived from the null-4A lines had lower cooking loss. Cooking loss was correlated with amylose content, peak starch viscosity, swelling power of semolina and cooked pasta adhesiveness. Semolina swelling power was highly correlated with RVA peak viscosity. Waxy durum wheats appear to have an advantage over the normal types in terms of lower cooking loss, widely used as an indicator of pasta cooking quality.