ARS | Publication request: Estimation of Heat Damage in Hard Red Winter Wheat Cultivars

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: December 1, 2002
Publication Date: March 19, 2003
Citation: Mohamed, A., Gordon, S.H., Rayas-Duarte, P., Xu, J. 2003. Estamation of heat damage in hard red winter wheat cultivars. Meeting Abstract.

Technical Abstract: Heat damage occurs during the artifical drying of newly harvested wheat or at high storage temperatures. Wheat proteins can be denatured by kernel heat damage during storage or during wheat milling process. Protein denaturation limits their functional (visco eleastic) properties in flour dough and results in low bread quality. GIPSA, a USDA agency, is looking for objective, simple and fast methods to inspect grains. Visually checking and selecting discolored kernels is currently used to examine wheat samples for heat damage. The objective of this work was to introduce a method for wheat heat damage. Three HRW cultivars were heat treated in an oven at 30 and 50 degrees C for 30 and 60 days. Gel electrophoresis showed different profiles between the three cultivars, which indicates different effect of heat treatment on each cultivar. DSC testing of the flour showed a decrease on the delta H as the storage temperature increased except for 2137 cultivar. Results of Photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) analysis of dried kernels before and after storage show subtle differences in the amide and ester regions of the spectra, which suggests the kernels probably underwent morphological changes such as ester or amide hydrolysis. Preliminary PAS analysis indicate a fairly consistent pattern of change occurred during storage.