Elucidation of the ingredient affecting the wheat [Triticum aestivum] flour color and development of the simple selection method

Wheats produced domestically including the cultivar Norin61 are mainly used for Japanese noodles, but there is an important problem that salability is relatively low because the noodle color of domestic wheat is inferior to that of 'ASW' wheat produced in Australia. Therefore we examined to clarify the ingredient relating to wheat flour color, and tried to improve the method to easily measure with small amount of testing materials of the wheat flour color for using at the early screening stage. The relationships between the flour paste color and the various ingredients of wholemeal (the ash, the mineral content, the polyphenol content and protein content) were investigated each by using conventional cultivars (ex.'Norin61') and superior noodle-colored new cultivars (ex.'Kinunonami'). As a result, good correlations were recognized between various ingredients of wholemeal and the L* values of paste color just prepared and proceede for 24 hours. And the great equilateral correlation was recognized between the protein content and the a* value. On the other hand, the values of wheat flour color measured by the improved method with the small amount of testing materials, put into 24well multi-plate indicated equilateral correlations to the values measured by the ordinal method with laboratory dish although slightly low about the L* value. In addition, the improved method was able to estimate the grade of the flour color roughly by measuring the color of powdery paste which was provided by the simple sample preparing method by using a small roll mill. Furthermore, the improved method was able to estimate the grade of the noodle color with the observational score of the A1 paste color which was provided after the heating with a microwave oven. It is suggested that the introducing improved measuring method in this study is able to estimate easily the wheat flour color at the early stage in the wheat breeding, and then it is available for the effective improving of the wheat flour color.