Search

Evaluation of the grain from two durum and two common wheat cultivars used for pasta production is presented in the paper. The raw material was obtained from the field experi-ment performed in the years 1998-1999 at Experimental Farm, Felin. The measurement of grain hardness was performed including the following indexes: torque, time of grinding, energy input, flour yield, wheat hardness index (WHI) and particle size index (PSI). Milling value and the con-tent of ash in grain and semoline, total protein and wet gluten were also determined. The evalua-tion of pasta value was performed on the basis of yellow pigment content index and pasta dough darkening level. The results showed that durum wheat cultivars are characterised with higher grain hardness, yield of gluten proteins gluten and yellow pigments amount in comparison to common wheat. The dough made from durum wheat was distinguished by a higher yellow index achieving higher scores for pasta color in comparison to common wheat, which points to better usefulness of durum wheat grains for pasta production. However, common wheat varieties were characterised by more favorable values of semolina purity index and a lower content of ash. A better semoline purity index of common wheat was revealed. However, it is the result of sig-nificantly lower, genetically determined mineral content in common wheat endospermin in comparison with durum wheat.