Changes in baking quality of winter wheat with different intensity of Fusarium spp. contamination detected by means of new rheological system

Abstract

The aim of our work was to assess the possibility of detecting the changes in the baking quality of winter wheat with different levels of Fusarium spp. contamination using a new rheological system Mixolab, and to determine the correlations between the Mixolab characteristics and other quality parameters of wheat flour and grain. The standard technological characteristics (crude protein, Zeleny sedimentation index, wet gluten, falling number), loaf volume, shape features of bread (height and diameter), Mixolab parameters, and mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) content were determined in 3 winter wheat cultivars (Akteur - quality group E - elite; Eurofit - quality group A; Meritto - quality group B) with different levels of Fusarium spp. contamination (8 variants) in two years. Increasing intensity of Fusarium spp. contamination evidently worsened the rheological quality and its negative effects on protein and mainly on the starch part of the grain was obvious in Mixolab curves. High correlations were found between Mixolab characteristics and standard technological parameters, as well as between Mixolab parameters and the main baking criterion - loaf volume.

Keywords

• winter wheat
• fusarium spp.
• bread making quality
• mixolab