Application of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy to a durum wheat breeding programme

The breeding of new cereal grain varieties requires methods that are rapid and preferably non-destructive, to assess the quality of grain in early generations. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has great potential to meet these requirements for the durum wheat breeder. In this study, sample sets representing durum wheats from an Australian durum breeding programme were used to develop several NIR calibrations. Useful predictive calibrations from scanning whole grain samples were developed for hectolitre weight, semolina yield, semolina b* and hardness, in addition to highly accurate calibrations for protein and moisture. It was not possible to adequately predict dough properties and black point percentage from whole grain scanning. A useful calibration to measure semolina browning reaction, applicable to early generation screening, was also developed. These calibrations have been extensively validated using large independent sample sets.