Cereal Chem 56:169 - 171.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Screening Wheat for Protein and Hardness by Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy.

P. C. Williams. Copyright 1979 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Wheat was screened for protein and hardness by near infrared reflectance spectroscopy. Two series of wheats, I and II, were assembled, both of which varied widely in Kjedahl protein and hardness, as assessed by the particle size index (PSI) test. All wheats were ground on both a burr mill and an impeller-type mill that was fitted with a 1.0-mm screen. A Noetec Model 31 Grain Quality Analyzer was calibrated against protein and PSI for the burr milled series I samples and for protein only on the impeller milled series I samples. In series II of burr milled samples, protein was predictable to within 0.7% and PSI to within less than two units. Both parameters are satisfactory for screening early generations of wheat for protein and hardness in breeding programs. Protein was predictable to within 0.31% in series II of impeller-ground wheat, which contained wheat ranging from durum to soft white and club sheats. Correlations between PSI and mean particle size (MPS) were high for burr mill-ground wheats but much lower for impeller-ground wheats. PSI figures for wheats ground by burr and impeller mills were closely correlated. Correlations between protein and MPS were---0.49 for burr mill-ground wheat and +0.02 for impeller mill-ground wheat.