Early Generation Screening Evaluation

This cooperative program for the quality evaluation of Eastern soft wheat breeding lines provides preliminary screening of early generation material for milling and baking quality potential. The evaluation consists of two parts: milling quality potential, based on flour yield from a 50-g milling, and baking quality,
based on Alkaline Water Retention Capacity (AWRC), and the Softness Equivalent (S.E.). 

High flour yield is associated with high straight-grade flour and with low Endosperm Separation Index (E.S.I.) in Allis-Chalmers milling, both indicies of economic advantage in milling. The adjusted yield obtained by the 50-g milling correlates highly with Allis Chalmers ESI and extraction. Therefore entries
with high yield potential are given high rankings. 

A combination of low AWRC and high S.E. leads to a high baking quality score. Low AWRC indicates low flour or dough water binding capacity. High S.E. indicates friable endosperm, and it correlates highly with Allis-Chalmers break-flour yield. High break flour yield is necessary for a finely granulated flour, which is in turn associated with large cake volume. 

Advanced Nursery Evaluation

This cooperative program for the eastern soft wheat breeding lines of the Advanced Nursery, provides for the evaluation of milling and baking quality potential. The evaluation consists of three parts: Milling Quality, Baking Quality, and Combined Quality Scores. 

Appraisals of the quality of test lines are made on a relative basis, comparing test line data with those of the control, or standard cultivar. The evaluation requires at leat 300g samples, with 500g being desirable to allow cleaning to remove damaged or shriveled kernels. 

Milling Quality is based on flour yield from a 200-g milling, softness equivalent (S.E.), and micro test weight. High flour yield is azssociated with high straight-grade flour yield and with low endosperm separation index (E.S.I.) in Allis -Chalmers milling, both indicies of economic advantage in milling. The
adjusted yield obtained from the Qualdrumat Jr. milling correlates highly with Allis -Chalmers E.S.I. and extraction. The Softness equivalent correlates highly with Allis-Chalmers break flour yield, which is known to relate to kernel softness. Therefore entries with high flour yield and high S.E. potential are given
high rankings. 

A combination of high softness equivalent (S.E.), low A.W.R.C., and large cookie diameter leads to a high baking quality score. Low A.W.R.C. indicates low flour or dough water binding capacity. High S.E. indicates low flour or dough water binding capacity. High S.E. indicates friable endosperm, and it
correlates highly with Allis-Chalmers break flour yield. High break flour yield is necessary for a finely granulated flour, which is in turn associated with large cake volume. 

The combined quality score is simply the lesser of the milling and baking quality scores. Thus, to achieve a good combined quality score, an entry must be acceptable in both milling and baking quality. 

Drill Plot Evaluation

This cooperative program for the eastern soft wheat breeding lines provides for the evaluation of milling and baking quality potential. Evaluations of entries are made for milling, baking, and combined qualities. Data for breeding lines are compared with those of a standard cultivar grown under the same conditions. 

A soft wheat breeding line has good milling quality if it has high flour extraction (high flour yield), its middling stock (endosperm chunks) reduce well (high friability), and the endosperm separates comparatively easily from the bran thereby reducing the energy required to mill the wheat (low E.S.I.). 

A soft wheat has good baking quality properties if the flour exhibits low alkaline water retention value (A.W.R.C.), bakes a large cookie, and is fine granulating (high break flour yield). In the same manner that a Milling Quality score is obtained by adding scores of individual measurements of factors that contribute
to milling quality, a Baking Quality score is obtained by adding scores from the measurements of factors that contribute to Baking Quality. 

The Combined Quality score represents the minimal quality level of the entry and emphasises the independence from each of the other factors contributing to milling or baking. The Combined Quality score is identical with the lower of the Milling or Baking Quality scores. Entries are ranked according to the Combined Quality score.