End‐Use Quality of CIMMYT‐Derived Soft‐Kernel Durum Wheat Germplasm: II. Dough Strength and Pan Bread Quality

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidumssp. durum) is considered unsuitable for the majority of commercial bread production because of its weaker gluten strength, combined with a larger flour particle size and higher level of starch damage after milling. Recently, a new durum cultivar with soft kernel texture, Soft Svevo, was developed by the Ph1b‐mediated homoeologous transfer of the Puroindolinegenes at the Hardness(Ha) locus from the D genome of T. aestivumL. The objective of this research was to evaluate the dough strength and pan bread‐making potential of soft‐kernel durum germplasm developed from crossing Soft Svevo to selected entries of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) 44th International Durum Yield Nursery. Forty‐six F2:5soft durum full and half‐sib lines were grown in replicated plots in two locations. Grain samples were evaluated for flour protein quality, dough mixing, and strength characteristics and bread baking. Significant differences (p< 0.05) were detected among lines for flour sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) sedimentation volume (3.2–12.6 mL g−1), solvent retention capacity lactic acid (63.2–112.6 g 100 g−1), Mixograph water absorption (59.8–64.5 g 100 g−1), peak height (37.1–52.8), and peak width (55.4–125.2), and loaf volume (629–864 cm3).These results indicate that the bread‐making potential of soft durum can be improved if hard durum cultivars with favorable alleles for protein quality, dough strength, and bread making are chosen as crossing parents with Soft Svevo and, by extension, other soft‐kernel durum wheat germplasm.