Final Examination for the Degree of MSc - HUIJING LI

Examining Committee
Dr. Yoshi Mine, Chair
Dr. Iris Joye, Advisor
Dr. Jayne Bock, Co-Advisor
Dr. Massimo Marcone, Department Member

TITLE: Chemical Composition of Advanced Spring Hard Wheat Lines and Their Effect on Baking Quality

ABSTRACT: Purple wheat presents a market opportunity as functional food ingredient due to its presumed high phenolic and antioxidant contents. However, its end-use quality and the functional properties have not yet been fully evaluated. This study compared the end-use quality of select breeding lines of hard purple spring wheat to that of conventional red and white spring wheat varieties. A set of 10 lines (4 purple, 5 red, 1 white) was harvested in two locations (Guelph and Ottawa) in 2015 and 2016. The commercial CDC PrimePurple, Carberry and Snowbird varieties were selected as controls of the three different seed coat colours. Overall, the advanced purple wheat lines had significantly higher total phenolic content than the white and red wheat lines, and their performance in flour quality, dough rheology and baking tests was within the typical range of flour functionality parameters typical for a good hard spring bread wheat. The bread loaf volume obtained with purple wheat lines was in line or even exceeded the other commercial lines. This study hinted at a high functional value of the purple wheat lines for cereal processing applications, but these data need to be substantiated by further research.