Wheat endosperm hardness. Part I. Relationships to colour of kernel cross-section.

摘要

Hardness and colour of endosperm from kernels belonging to 6 Polish wheat varieties (Zyta, Rysa, Banti, Elena, Sakwa, Mewa) and a durum wheat variety were analysed in order to determine whether a relationship exists between these 2 properties. Results indicate that, among the varieties, there was no general relationship between wheat endosperm colour and hardness. Nevertheless, endosperm hardness tended to increase with increasing values of b*, hue and saturation attributes and decreasing values of a*. More promising results were obtained when the colour-hardness relationship was examined within a variety. In all cases, the results were statistically significant, but the endosperm hardnesses of var. Zyta, Rysa, Banti, Sakwa and Mewa were more closely linked with the colour of the central part of the endosperm (r in the range 0.53-0.76), whereas that of durum and Elena wheat varieties were more closely linked with the colour of the whole endosperm (r = 0.70 and 0.57, respectively). The varieties examined could be divided into 3 groups differing in the range of changes in hardness as a function of the b* attribute of endosperm colour. For group I (durum and Zyta), the rate of hardness increase was higher than that of group II (Rysa, Banti and Sakwa). The 3rd group (Elena and Mewa) was characterized by the highest slope of hardness versus b*; however, it was well differentiated from group I by its low values for yellowness.