Prediction of Wheat Quality—Past, Present, Future. A Review

Since the discovery of gluten by Beccari in the 18th century, wheat producers, millers, and bakers have tried to find relatively simple methods of prediction of wheat quality, particularly during the breeding stages. Bearing in mind that endosperm proteins play the governing role in determination of wheat quality, this prediction is generally based on these proteins. Early research concentrated on relations among the macrofractions (i.e., gliadin:glutenin ratio, ratio of acetic acid soluble proteins, etc.). Later, the gliadin polypeptides, the genes coding for these polypeptides, and variety identification became the focus of research. More recent predictions are based on the high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits. Although such predictions are successfully applied in many countries for wheat breeding, the low correlation between predicted and practical quality observed in many cases, and the variability of quality of different wheat varieties, suggests that further studies are needed to improve the reli...