134 Assessment of the SDSS test for early generation screening for wheat quality.

D. K. HABERNICHT, P. L. Bruckner, J. E. Berg, J. A. Kennedy, H. TeSlaa, and M. J. Giroux. Department of Plant Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717.

The sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) sedimentation volume (SDSS) test has been shown to be discriminative in terms of strength of wheat gluten aggregation. High SDSS values are correlated with greater gluten strength. High SDSS values may be indicative of lines of wheat that have potential for high loaf volumes. Low SDSS values may be indicative of wheat that is low in gluten strength and/or total protein content, and samples of whole meal flour that have low SDSS volumes may indicate little potential for high loaf volume. We have assessed the ability of the SDSS test to replace the mixograph test in terms of selecting for early generation wheat lines that have excellent potential for high end product quality such as high loaf volumes. The samples included 64 F7 observation lines. For these samples, SDSS was highly correlated (r = 0.55) with loaf volume, while mixograph data which is the more traditional test, was weakly correlated with loaf volume (r = 0.47). Protein content was not a major factor influencing the performance of samples in any of the tests. The results indicate that SDSS may easily replace the mixograph test in terms of predicting sample performance in pup loaf bake tests.