Cereal Chem. 70:241-246   |  VIEW ARTICLE

A Simple Antibody-Based Test for Dough Strength. III. Further Simplification and Collaborative Evaluation for Wheat Quality Screening. John L. Andrews, Malcolm J. Blundell, and John H. Skerritt.

Cereal Chem. 70:241-246. An antibody-based method for discrimination of wheat flours or whole meals on the basis of differences in dough strength (Skerritt 1991b), as measured by extensigraph maximum resistance for example, was simplified for use in large-scale screening to predict dough quality. The major modification was the addition of unlabeled antibody to the diluted grain extract being analyzed, which simplified sample handling. It reduced the dilution of the grain extracts being tested and improved the differentiation between flours of different strengths. A method was also developed for simultaneous extraction and testing of sets of 96 unweighed whole meal samples. The method was tested in a collaborative trial in eight laboratories (none with significant prior immunoassay experience) using two separate analyses of a set of 16 flours, including three blind duplicates. Each laboratory reported highly significant correlations between color developed in the assay and rheological measurements of dough strength, such as farinograph development time and extensigraph maximum resistance. Good estimates of within- and between-laboratory precision were also obtained, indicating that the method was suitable for quality assessment in wheat breeding.