Wheat composition/functionality relationship

A direct approach to determining composition-functionality relationships begins by separating the different chemical components. Once the components have been isolated—say, from a cereal flour—it is possible to proceed in two main ways. The first is to add the component in different amounts to the flour and measure the response in terms of some parameter of functionality. This approach has been used for elucidating the effects of lipids and proteins of wheat flour. 

RB Gupta, IL Batey, F MacRitchie. Relationship between protein composition and functional properties of wheat flours. Cereal Chem 69 125-131, 1992. 

MacRitchie, R, and R. B. Gupta. 1993. Functionality-composition relationships of wheat flour as a result of variation in sulfur availability. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 44 1767-1774. 

Based on the scheme illustrated in Figure 12.2, it is possible, at least in theory, to design a wheat variety with specific properties by selecting the complete allelic composition controlling the proteins if we know the effects of all the alleles (proteins) on protein composition and thus the functional properties that we wish to achieve. These relationships were what we were pursuing in Chapter 11. Of course, the usual situation in a breeding program is not to have to start from scratch, but rather to take a current variety and modify its allelic composition in a way that will move the properties closer to those desired. 

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