Cluster Analysis of Historical and Modern Hard Red Spring Wheat Cultivars Based on Parentage and HPLC Analysis of Gluten-Forming Proteins

Thirty hard red spring (HRS) wheat cultivars released between 1910 and 2013 were analyzed to determine how they cluster in terms of parentage and HPLC analysis of gliadins and unreduced proteins. Markers for reduced height genes were assessed to determine associations between semidwarfism and protein composition, as well as quality characteristics. In terms of parentage, the clusters formed were grouped according to release year and semidwarfism. Farinograph development time and stability showed significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences between clusters, indicating improvement of mixing characteristics over time. Flour ash content was significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) between clusters, indicating improved milling quality. The clusters based on the gliadin reverse-phase HPLC peak binary data did not group cultivars according to release year and the semidwarf characteristic. However, cultivars were grouped according to year in the absorbance area based dendrogram. The clusters based on absorbance area of size-exclusion HPLC showed significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences for release year, the semidwarf characteristic, and farinograph stability. Overall, the results indicate that the introduction of reduced height genes accompanied the improvements of dough mixing and breadmaking quality characteristics, without altering the composition of gliadin proteins over the last 100 years of HRS wheat breeding.