Grouping Some of Irrigated Bread Wheat (Triticum aestvum L.) Commercial Cultivars Based on Grain Quality Properties

The baking quality of bread wheat is affected by genotype, environment and the interaction of genotype by environment and varies depending on the cultivar and growing area. On the other hand, to produce various products in the baking industry with desirable quality properties different cultivars with different quality properties are needed. Therefore, grouping of Iranian bread wheat commercial cultivars is necessary. In this study, grain quality properties of 28 irrigated bread wheat commercial cultivars in Iran were evaluated. The results showed that the effect of environment and genotype within environments was significant (P ≤ 0.01) for all evaluated quality properties. Bushehr and Khuzestan provinces had the highest protein content (12.6%), and four provinces in cold and temperate regions; Kermanshah, Zanjan, East Azerbaijan and Hamedan had the lowest protein content (11.4%). On the other hand, the lowest and highest protein content among the bread wheat cultivars was 11.4% to 12.7% for cv. Uroum and cv. Mehrgan, respectively. Correlation study showed that grain protein content had strong and significant (P ≤ 0.01) relationship with zeleny, grain hardness, wet gluten content and water absorption. Therefore, protein content can be used for grouping of commercial bread wheat cultivars in Iran based on grain quality properties. Also results showed that Bushehr, North Khorasan and South Kerman produced the high grain quality and ranked in the first group.