Effect of the introduction of D-genome related gluten proteins on durum wheat pasta and bread making quality

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum) is typically used to produce pasta. In some parts of the world, it is used to make bread but with inferior loaf volume and texture compared with common wheat bread. This study describes the effect on technological properties of pasta and bread made from durum wheat cv. Svevo (recurrent parent (S), HMW-GS null, 7+8) and two isogenic genotypes carrying pairs of additional subunits 5+10 (S 5+10) or 2+12 (S 2+12), normally present at the Glu-D1 locus in bread wheat. The semolina was re-ground to flour, mixed in various proportions with bakers flour and used to prepare loaves. The dough properties of the S 5+10 line were markedly different from Svevo, having overstrong, stable dough, low wet gluten and elasticity; S 2+12 also displayed stronger dough. Pasta prepared from these genotypes showed lower cooked firmness (adjusted for protein differences), ranked Svevo > S 5+10 = S 2+12. There were no other differences in pasta cooking quality. Bread loaf volume and loaf score decreased as more bakers flour was replaced by durum flour, but the decline varied with the genetic material and dosage. The greatest reduction in loaf volume occurred using S 5+10 and the least with S 2+12, which was similar to Svevo. Bake score was reduced with S 5+10 only. The best loaf was made using Svevo. This work shows that it is possible to manipulate the processing properties of pasta and durum-bread-wheat blends by altering the glutenin subunit composition. This represents an efficient tool to finely manipulate gluten quality in durum wheat.