Assessing gluten strength with a new small‐scale LASRC method useful for soft wheat breeding programs

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The gluten strength of soft wheat breeding materials can be categorized according to various quality tests. While weak gluten in flours is typically required for the production of soft‐dough biscuits, extensible dough with medium gluten strength is required from flours suitable for the production of other types of biscuits. Genotypes that have high gluten strength are ordinarily eliminated from soft wheat breeding programs. Therefore, small‐scale quality test methods that can predict the gluten strength of genotypes, especially in the early stages of breeding, are highly desirable. In the present study, the effectiveness and efficiency of a small‐scale lactic acid solvent retention capacity (LASRC) test, as a potential simplified means to evaluate gluten strength for soft wheat breeding programs, were investigated. FINDINGS: Soft wheat genotypes grown in different locations were categorized by the LASRC values of their flours. GlutoPeak, Mixolab, farinograph, mixograph, Zeleny sedimentation, and glutenin swelling index test results were also used for comparison, in order to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of LASRC. LASRC test results successfully discriminated between soft‐/weak‐ and hard‐/strong‐dough groups, but were sometimes less successful in discriminating between hard‐/strong‐ and medium‐strong‐dough groups. Mixograph development time and area, farinograph stability and degree of softening, Mixolab stability, GlutoPeak AM value, and Zeleny sedimentation parameters all showed strong correlations with LASRC. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed that new a small‐scale LASRC has potential as a simplified, rapid, and effective small‐sample test. SIGNIFICANCE AND NOVELTY: This LASRC small‐sample flour test can be recommended for predicting gluten strength, especially for early‐generation selection of soft wheat breeding materials.