Allelic variation at the Glu-1 and Glu-3 loci in southern Japanese wheats, and its effects on gluten properties

In a study of the allelic variation at the Glu-1 and Glu-3 loci and their effects on viscoelastic properties for 85 modern southern Japanese wheat cultivars and 61 elite F-6 breeding lines, two alleles each were found at the Gh-B1, Glu-D1, and Glu-D3 loci, and three each at the Glu-A1, Glu-A3, and Glu-B3 loci. An analysis of F-6 breeding lines having large variations both in dough and gluten properties showed allelic differences to be significant for Gh-ill and Glu-BI loci in Farinographic valorimeter values and for Glu-A1 and Glu-A3 loci in gluten compression tests. The total determination coefficient (R-2) of glutenin loci and protein content were as small as 41.2 % for the valorimeter value and 38.3 % in the gluten compression test. One major reason was the lack of strong glutenin alleles such as Glu-D1d among the southern Japanese cultivars. This presumably reflects the quality requirement for Japanese salty noodles and the limited use of foreign strong cultivars as cross parents in the breeding history. (C) 2000 Academic Press.