The effect of durum wheat genotypes on cooking quality of pasta

Pasta-making quality is becoming gradually important in durum wheat breeding programs. This study aimed to find out the diversity in quality traits, to investigate the pasta-making quality of 24 durum wheat genotypes for determining the promising lines and to determine relationships among quality traits by biplot and correlation analyses. Significant differences and wide variations were observed among genotypes for all quality characteristics investigated. Of the 24 genotypes evaluated, 4 genotypes resulted in good values of sensory properties, cooking loss, water absorption, and color, and could be considered as the most promising genotypes. The genotypes with higher grain protein content and gluten strength had better cooking quality of pasta. Cooking loss and water absorption were negatively correlated with sensory properties and gluten-related parameters such as glutograph stretch, gluten index, and SDS sedimentation tests. SDS sedimentation, gluten index, and glutograph are beneficial quick screening tests that can be used to improve the pasta-making quality of wheat, particularly in the early stages of breeding programs.