1 Questions and Flour Problems - Robert Wenzel

1 Questions and Flour Problems1 Most of the following Questions have beencompiled during the past decade. They weresent by fax or email, or communicated of them seem to be redundant, becausethey were received from different often, they concern common problemsand daily challenges of millers. If the booktreats the addressed issue in one of the fol-lowing chapters, this will be indicated by ablue button, carrying the question number asreference Cultivation, Harvest and Wheat Supply1 Is there a connection between soil characteristics and the quality of wheat? Wheat needs good soils that ensure an adequatesupply of nitrogen to the plant. Soil quality canbe improved with suitable fertilizers and bythe right choice of the preceding do the weather and fertilization affect the properties of gluten?Nitrogen fertilization and cool weatherincrease the amount of the softening glutencomponent gliadin.

2 In warm, dry conditionsmore glutenin is stored, and this results inshort and dry dough 1323 What are the principles for storing freshly harvested wheat? At least the worst of the dirt and black dock-age should be removed before the wheatgrains are put into storage. The moisture con-tent should also be measured so that excesswater can be reduced by drying or regularturning over with the pneumatic system toprevent the growth of micro-organisms andother pests. The moisture content should beadjusted reliably to a level below 14 %; thenthe wheat can be stored for some long timewithout loss of quality. 4 Which countries are the largest exporters of wheat?In 2003 - 2004 the USA exported the largestquantity of wheat (31% of world wheatexports), followed by Canada (16%), Australia(15%), Argentina (8%) and the EU (7%).

3 Page 135 Which countries import the largest quantities of wheat?Egypt and Brazil with 6 million tons, closelyfollowed by South Korea (4 mio t) and thePhilippines (3 mio t). Page 136 What percentage of world wheat production is used for food?Of the annual production of about 600 mio t,almost 10% is lost through rodents, insectsand improper storage conditions. About 15%is used to feed livestock, mostly in the EU,where 40% is used for feed. A small amount,about 5%, is used for technical applications,in particular secondary wheat products for the(bio)chemical industry such as starch andgluten hydrolysis products. A fast-growingnon-food application of wheat (and othercrops) is biofuel production. These figuresleave about 70% or 400 mio t for food Will there be an adequate supply of wheatin the future?Although the wheat stocks seem to be fallingslightly, there will probably be sufficient wheatat least in the next 2 or 3 decades because ofthe recovery of production areas in EasternEurope and improved agriculture in China andIndia.

4 By the end of this period, improved pro-ductivity of the wheat plant resulting fromgenetic modification may ensure a stable sup-ply for a growing number of Cultivation, Harvest and Wheat Supply1 Questions and Flour Problems01_Questions_neu 15:16 Uhr Seite 12 Questions and Flour Problems8 Will China become a major wheat exporterin the near future?Although the wheat imports dropped sharplyfrom almost 12 mio t in 1995 to 400 thousandt in 2003, imports have recently risen againbecause of rapidly increasing demand. Theconsumption of wheat products increases asthe average income rises. The trend is sup-ported by the still slowly growing it is rather unlikely that China will soonbecome a wheat exporting nation like the EU,for example. Page 729 When does the new wheat season of the major wheat exporting countries start?Even within one wheat-exporting nation thereare broad harvesting seasons, with Argentinaprobably showing the sharpest divisionbetween the old and the new harvest; this isdue to the comparatively small wheat plantingzone.

5 Furthermore, the winter wheat harvestusually starts and ends approx. 6 weeksearlier than the harvest of spring - JanuaryAustraliaAugust - JanuaryCanadaJuly - SeptemberUSAMay - SeptemberEUJune - AugustChinaMay - AugustIndiaFebruary - September 10 How does fertilization affect gluten properties?Nitrogen fertilizers increase the overall proteinof a variety, but the general properties are notchanged: a normal gluten remains normal, withhigher energy levels in the Alveogram andExtensogram; a soft gluten becomes even latter is due to an increase in gliadin, thesoft component of gluten. Page 12911 Can the resistance of wheat towards diseasessignifcantly be reduced by conventional breeding, or only by genetic modification?Breeding for resistance has always been amajor target of the breeders, but the achievedresults certainly can be improved, either byfurther breeding or by genetic modificationthrough methods of modern Varieties and Classes12 What is a variety?

6 A wheat variety is characterized by specificattributes such as resistance to weatherconditions, enzymatic activity or growthheight. Other objectives in breeding a varietyare its protein content and the properties ofthe gluten. Varieties are usually approved andthen checked again and again through moni-tored cultivation. 13 How is a wheat class defined?A wheat class comprises all those wheat vari-eties complying with the definition for theclass, colour, hardness, protein etc. Thenames of the classes and their definitions arecharacteristic of each wheat growing even similar names ( Hard Red Winter)do not necessarily mean that identical qualityparameters are used for Do the attributes of varieties vary?The attributes of varieties should establishthemselves in the growing areas, but that isnot always the case. Weather conditions,especially, can cause the dominance of vari-ous attributes of the variety to be lost.

7 "Replanting" of the wheat grains, sowinggrains already harvested, can also result inloss of the desired attributes, so only newseed should be used. 15 How are consistent attributes of a variety achieved by breeding?For decades plant breeders have ensured theattributes of varieties by crossing differentwheat varieties and practising careful selec-tion over a period of many years. More recent-ly biotechnological methods have been used,including the transfer of genes, in order toachieve successful breeding more Varieties and Classes01_Questions_neu 15:16 Uhr Seite 2 Questions and Flour Problems3 These methods will make it possible, for thefirst time, to introduce attributes from otherorganisms into the wheat to optimize charac-teristics such as weather resistance or waterrequirements. Genetic engineering enablesthe goals of breeding to be achieved faster.

8 16 What are the goals of breeding up to the year 2010 in D, EU, USA, Canada, Russia/CIS, Argentina, China?In all countries breeding is ultimately directedtowards increasing yield with less work. Onepossibility is to make the wheat plant resistantto pesticides, especially weed killers. Anothergoal of breeding may be to increase resistanceto fungal attack. In view of climate changesthe ability to thrive on dryer soils might be afurther desirable characteristic. Whereas plant breeders used to operate onthe regional level, they are now major interna-tional groups that produce seed throughoutthe world and market it for specific regions. 17 Which are the most common wheat classes for export?HRW, HRS (including DNS), and HWW mostlyfor bread Flour ;SW and SRW are usually for cake and pastryflour and durum for pasta semolina. Page 2018 We are currently using DNS/CWRS wheat which is no longer available or is too expensive at the moment.

9 Which variety comes closest to it?Generally speaking, the balanced proteinproperties of these wheat varieties have to beachieved by mixing other wheats. In manycases it will be necessary to combine a wheatwith very firm gluten with a softer are doubtless many examples of would be a mixture of about 30 % GermanElite wheat with 60 70 % A wheat and possi-bly a small amount of B wheat; other possibil-ities would be 40 - 50% Australian Prime Hardmixed with Australian Soft, or Australian Softand Australian Hard in suitable proportions. Although it will not be possible to make suchchanges unnoticed in most cases, the miller scustomers will usually be able to achieve opti-mum baking properties after a short time,once they have got used to the new Flour . 19 Can I replace 100% of the DNS wheat used in a bread Flour if I apply the correcttreatment?Yes, if the target is to replace untreated or sub-optimally treated DNS with a cheaper optimally treated DNS is hard to beat inmost bread applications as far as volume yieldand dough tolerance are concerned.

10 Of coursesome wheat varieties, CWRS, perform atleast as well as DNS, though they are probablynot Which is the main wheat class?Hard Red Winter accounted for (27 mio t)of the total production from 1990 - 1721 How are wheat classes distinguished fromeach other?Gene sequencing is the most accurate methodof determining and distinguishing betweenwheat varieties. Determination of the migra-tion of the proteins from a wheat in a gel byelectrophoresis is also very precise. The visualand physical properties of a wheat can also beused to distinguish between wheat varieties,but errors are more likely to occur due to themultifactorial nature of the 4522 Are there methods for quick determinationof wheat varieties?For Canadian wheat, a sophisticated systembased on the visual differences is being usedto determine wheat varieties (KVD, kernelvisual distinguishability).