Assessing environmental influences on solvent retention capacities of two soft white spring wheat cultivars

The solvent retention capacity test (SRC) (AACC Approved Method 56-11) of flour is used to evaluate multiple aspects of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) quality including pentosan content, starch damage, gluten strength, and general water retention based on the ability of flour to retain a range of solvents. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of grain production environment in general and crop irrigation and fertility management in particular on SRC of soft wheat flour, and to evaluate the ability of SRC to predict end-use quality across diverse environments. Two soft white spring wheat cultivars 'Pomerelle' and 'Centennial' were produced in a range of irrigated and rain-fed production environments. SRC profiles and milling and baking quality parameters were measured. In a two-year study at Aberdeen, ID, with two late-season irrigation management regimes and two crop nitrogen fertility treatments, only wheat genotype significantly affected flour SRC. In two-year studies at Tetonia, ID, one conducted under rain-fed conditions and the other under irrigation, additional fertilizer applied at anthesis did not affect SRC. Correlations among quality parameters were determined using the Aberdeen and Tetonia flour samples, as well as samples of the same genotypes grown in fertility trials under rain-fed conditions at Havre and Bozeman, MT, and under irrigation at Bozeman. Patterns of correlations among SRC values were similar for both genotypes. Grain test weight was negatively correlated with sodium carbonate and sucrose SRC of both genotypes. Flour protein was strongly positively correlated with sucrose and lactic acid SRC of both genotypes. The optimal regression models for predicting sugar snap cookie diameter (AACC Approved Method 10-52) as a function of protein, SRC, flour extraction, and kernel hardness were different for the two cultivars. SRC evaluations of flours from these trials were consistent with large genotype and environment effects, yet minimal genotype x environment interaction. This suggests that selection among genotypes within an environment will produce a gain-from-selection observable in multiple and diverse environments.