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Influence of Microwave Heating on Some Physicochemical Properties of Wheat Grain Harvested in Three Consecutive Years¹

¹Presented in part at Scientific Meeting organized by Agrophysics Committee of PAS, Bohdan Dobrzanski Institute of Agrophysics of PAS and Lublin Division of PAS, Lublin, Poland. ²Bohdan Dobrzanski Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Science, Lublin, Poland. ³Corresponding author. E-mail: grundas@ipan.lublin.pl ⁴Department of Biochemistry and Food Analysis, August Cieszkowski Agricultural University, Poznan, Poland.

Grain of winter wheat cv. Begra was investigated for changes in some physical and chemical properties resulting from direct influence of microwave heating on grain harvested in three subsequent generations of crops at Plant Breeding Station DANKO in Choryn, Poland. Wheat grain samples tested immediately after microwave treatment with the highest grain temperature at 79 and 98°C showed a statistically significant decrease in moisture content (MC), thousand kernel weight (TKW), single kernel weight (SKW), single kernel diameter (SKD), and hardness index (HI), with the exception of grain samples M-120 and M-180, respectively, where statistically significant increases in HI and SKD were observed. Indirect effect of microwaves caused statistically significant fluctuation of the total protein content (TPC), TKW, single kernel moisture content (SKM), HI, SKW, and SKD in all three wheat grain crops in relation to their control samples. This indicates that the studied physicochemical properties of grain were affected by microwave rays not only directly but also indirectly.