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This project focuses on raw grain supply to and coproducts manufactured by the grain and biorefinery processing industries. Delivering low-cost, food-safe, bio-secure, and high quality cereals and oilseeds for food, feed, fuel, and industrial uses requires a systems approach. Therefore, the NC-213 objectives for the next 5-year cycle are revised to focus on three interrelated goals: <OL> <LI> To characterize quality attributes and develop systems to measure quality of cereals, oilseeds, and bioprocess coproducts.<LI> To develop methods to maintain quality, capture value, and preserve food safety at key points in the harvest to end product value chain. <LI>To quantify and disseminate the impact of market-chain technologies on providing high value, food-safe, and bio-secure grains for global markets and bioprocess industries. </ol>NC-213 will continue to have a significant impact on improving the efficiency of the U.S. grain industry and capturing value along the cereals, oilseeds and coproducts supply chains. Although NC-213 is not specifically focused on biofuels, the influence of biofuels on the U.S. grain industry cannot be overlooked. Therefore, NC-213 will address quality issues for food, feed, fuels, coproducts, and the emerging bioproducts industries. NC-213 will continue to have strong ties with industry. This multi-state project will use industry input and collaboration to ensure relevance and to aid in developing initiatives that can obtain extramural funding.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The specific objective for Nebraska in NC213 project is to investigate the genetic, environmental, disease (and possibly insects), and storage effects on the quality of winter wheat, barley, and triticale. The wheat, barley, and triticale will be evaluated by the effective use of improved screening procedures of grain and lines developed by conventional, organic, and biotechnology breeding methods. Wheat quality will be analyzed for its milling, dough and end-use product quality. Barley and triticale will be evaluated mainly for their protein content as both as used extensively for feed grains. It is well known that the environment plays a key role in grain quality, so samples will be collected from two or more environments. We will also determine the effect of compositing grain from different environments to learn if the composite sample represents the average of the environments, thus greatly reducing the number of samples needed to be analyzed. This project is expected to support the development of new cultivars, germplasm, and scientific publications. Plant breeding is one of the most accountable sciences and can be readily evaluated by the acceptance of the cultivars released. Currently, 57% of the wheat grown in Nebraska has been released by the current breeding team. In the next five years, we expect this percentage to increase. We further expect to develop cultivars adapted to irrigation and to the southeast part of Nebraska. As for publications, we expect them to be published in internationally recognized, peer-reviewed journals.
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APPROACH: The detailed wheat quality assay methods will be done, often as part of our current wheat efforts, according to AACC standard methods (39-70A for hardness, 44-19 for moisture, 26-10A and 26-95 for sample preparation of milling, 26-50 for Quadramat, Jr. milling, 6-21A for Buhler milling, 54-40A for Mixograph, 39-11 for protein of flour, 39-25 for protein of wheat, 08-02 for ash, 56-81B for falling number, 10-09 for baking). However these efforts will be augmented by additional procedures and for the first time we will evaluate the nutritional quality of winter barley and triticale. We will also augment our quality testing by testing grain from specific locations in additional tocurrent procedures of using composite over location samples. This sampling strategy will measure the effect of the environment on key quality characteristics. Specifically, the Plant Quality Laboratory will use internally developed standard methods to do following tests: a. Kernel characteristics for hardness, size, weight and shape will be evaluated by Single Kernel Characterization System 4100 (Perten Instrument, Sweden,) These assays are part of our ongoing efforts. b. Utilize small-scale methods to evaluate early generation wheat lines. The Quadramat, Jr. mill (C.W. Branbender Instrument, Inc., South Hackensack, NJ) will be used to mill wheat samples. These samples will be analyzed for protein content by NIR 5000 (Foss, Swenden), and gluten strength as tested by Mixograph instrument (National Mfg. Co. Lincoln NE). These assays are part of our ongoing efforts. New to our project will be that barley and triticale grain will be analyzed for protein content using these approved methods also. c. Later generation lines will be evaluated for pre-harvest dormancy (sprouting resistance) by Falling Number 1700 instrument (Perten, Sweden). Results will be reported to the breeder and incorporated into selection criteria for line advancement (e.g. Baenziger et al, 2001; Baenziger et al, 2006b). This effort is new to our project. d. The potential for dough discoloration of early and later generation wheat lines will be analyzed with Minolta Colorimeter and polyphenol oxidase assay (new assays for our project). e. Employ large-scale methods to evaluate advanced generation lines and for different cultural/management practices. Milling quality will be evaluated with Buhler miller (Switzerland). Flour will be analyzed for dough rheology, protein and ash content. Bread and/or noodles will be produced and evaluated for quality characteristics. Bread quality will be measured by visual and by C-Cell Image Analyzer (Perten, Sweden), and noodle quality will be analyzed by TAXT Plus Texture Analyzer (Texture Technologies Corp, USA). These assays are part of our ongoing efforts, but the crop management aspects are new to our project. Results will be used by the wheat, barley, and triticale breeding team as part of the selection for advancement and potential release of improved varieties and those involved in production to determine best management practices for end-use quality. The AACC standard methods are approved globally and provide the standard reference protocols among laboratories.