PASTA VISCOELASTICITY - ITS USEFULNESS IN THE CANADIAN DURUM-WHEAT BREEDING PROGRAM

The usefulness of pasta disc viscoelasticity to predict pasta cooking quality in the durum wheat breeding program was evaluated. Cooked pasta disc viscoelasticity (PDV) was calculated from the creep curve of the viscoelastogram. Two sets of samples with different quality characteristics were tested for protein content, sedimentation volume (SV), Mixograph mixing characteristics, cooked gluten viscoelasticity (CGV) and cooked pasta disc viscoelasticity. Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that cooked pasta disc visoelasticity was associated with Mixograph values, SV and CGV, but not with protein content. The results indicate that the PDV test is useful in breeding programs because it requires small quantities of sample, it is simple and more closely mimics theological tests used on the final product, pasta. The optimal conditions for measuring PDV are discussed. (C) 1995 Academic Press Limited