EFFECT OF CULTIVAR, ENVIRONMENT, AND THEIR INTERACTION AND STABILITY ANALYSES ON MILLING AND BAKING QUALITY OF SOFT RED WINTER-WHEAT

The effect of cultivar, environment, and their interactions on soft red winter wheat quality has never been demonstrated in the southeastern USA. In this study, 22 soft wheat cultivars and 2 hard wheat cultivars were grown in 12 southeastern environments in a randomized complete block design having 2 replications. Flour yield, whole grain protein percent, particle size index and alkaline water retention capacity were measured. Highly significant differences were detected among environments and cultivars for each of the quality variables. The cultivar .times. environment interaction was highly significant for all variables. Cultivars with good soft wheat quality and good stability were identified. The cultivar means from an environment were generally highly significantly correlated with the regional cultivar means indicating that for preliminary quality evaluations, data from one environment is sufficient for ranking cultivars.