Stability analysis for quality attributes in durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) genotypes

Wheat contributes more than 50% of calories to the people worldwide. In terms of appearance, colour, texture and flavor, the quality is determined by raw material, processing methods and other ingredients. The glutenin and gliadin proteins influence dough properties. Thirty-six durum wheat genotypes were evaluated for various quality traits viz. grain appearance score, grain hardness, sedimentation value and wet and dry gluten content. The superior genotypes for the physical characteristics of grains were PDW 337, UAS 448 and PDW 335. Wet and dry gluten were maximum in UAS 448 and WHD 954. PDW 337 (44 ml) and DDW 27 (44 ml) had highest sedimentation value. Present study reveals the identification of superior durum wheat genotypes which may be used in future breeding programmes to enhance the quality for human nutrition and specific end-uses. Introduction Wheat is a major crop in temperate countries. It is being used as livestock feed and human's food. The success of wheat largely depends on its high yield potential and adaptability and also on the gluten content, which imparts the visco-elastic properties that allows its dough to be processed into pasta, noodles, bread and other food products. Durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) offers a unique advantage over bread wheat due to wide adaptability over seasonal variations and presence of a strong visco-elastic storage protein complex called gluten. It has unique characteristics which have made it the most suitable raw material for the production of pasta products such as spaghetti, macaroni and vermicelli etc. The high protein content, excellent golden amber color, kernel hardness, kernel size, granular semolina and superior cooking quality of durum wheat makes it the most suitable wheat for manufacturing high quality pasta products and diverse range of foods (Motalebi et al. 2007, Soomro et al. 2014). It contains high amount of protein, gluten and said to be the hardiest of all wheat kernels. The pasta quality of durum wheat is influenced mainly by the physical and biochemical properties of wheat kernels which are in turn determined by genotype, environment and their interactions (Taghouti et al. 2010). For making good quality pasta products durum wheat with protein greater than 13 per cent, sedimentation value above 40 millilitre (ml) and viscosity greater than 90 per cent are needed. Quality is an important aspect of durum wheat and it demands specific quality traits as well as functionality. Grain texture, protein content, gluten and starch composition in the endosperm are the major determinants of end product quality. The quality of wheat is largely dependent upon its chemical composition which is influenced by genetic, environmental factors and processing conditions. Gluten which constitutes around the 80 per cent of the endosperm protein is composed of gliadins and glutenins. Gliadins (monomeric) and glutenins (polymeric) are the most important *Author for correspondence: < anuragmailk00@gmail.com >. Department of Seed Science and Technology, College of Agriculture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India. Department of Genetics and Plant breeding, College of Agriculture, COA, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar125004, Haryana, India.