The occurrence of friabilins in triticale and their relationship with grain hardness and baking quality

Grain hardness is a quality parameter in wheat and other cereals. In wheat, a group of M-r 15 000 proteins called friabilins have been shown to be related to grain hardness. The objective of this study was to determine the presence of friabilins on starch granules of different triticale lines and their relationship with grain texture and baking quality. The triticale lines studied have a wide range of hardness, which presented correlation with baking quality parameters such as damaged starch and solvent retention capacity. All of the triticale lines contained friabilins on the starch granules. However, the correlation between hardness and friabilin content was not observed, suggesting that these proteins would not be directly involved in grain texture determination of triticale. Consequently, friabilin content did not have any relation with cookie quality in triticale flours, but it could be related to breadmaking quality because it has a positive correlation with the sodium dodecyl sulfate sedimentation index.