AN ASSESSMENT OF THE SDS-SEDIMENTATION TEST FOR THE PREDICTION OF CANADIAN BREAD WHEAT QUALITY

Abstract

The ability of the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) sedimentation test of Axford et al. (1978) to predict quality characteristics of Canadian bread wheats has been assessed. With appropriate modifications, the test had sufficient "inherent" sensitivity to differentiate Canadian bread wheat lines, obtained from three years of Co-op tests, on the basis of baking quality and physical dough strength. However, the correlation coefficients between SDS-sedimentation volume and the quality parameters tested were highly dependent on environment. Correlation coefficients between SDS-sedimentation volume and Remix loaf volume were strongly affected by protein content with sample sets from the same environment. Sample sets with the lowest average protein contents gave the highest correlations. With combined samples from different environments with protein contents of less than 13.0%, a high correlation coefficient (r = 0.78**) was obtained between SDS-sedimentation volume and Remix loaf volume, whereas with samples of over 14.0% protein the correlation coefficient was insignificant. With sample sets from the same environment, SDS-sedimentation volume was generally highly correlated to farinograph dough development time and extensigraph area.