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Environmental Influences on Flour Quality for Sheeted Noodles in Idaho 377s Hard White Wheat¹

¹Research funded in part by the USDA-CSREES Fund for Rural America, Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station project IDA01141-FRA. University of Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station paper. ²Pendleton Flour Mills, Blackfoot, ID 83221. ³University of Idaho, Aberdeen, ID 83210. ⁴Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717-3140. ⁵Corresponding author. E-mail: esouza@uidaho.edu

Production of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the Pacific Northwest of the United States specifically for Asian noodle products is a relatively new goal for grain producers. We surveyed commercial fields of the hard white spring wheat cultivar Idaho 377s in two years to determine the variables contributing to Asian noodle quality and to validate previous observations made with small-plot research. Fields were surveyed in 1998 and 1999 in two areas of the Snake River Plain of southeastern Idaho separated by ≈100 km, with both irrigated fields and rain-fed fields sampled in both zones. Samples were evaluated for grain characteristics then milled and evaluated for flour quality, alkaline noodle color, and color and texture of nonalkaline Chinese (salted, neutral pH) noodles. Grain from rain-fed fields produced brighter and more yellow alkaline noodles than grain from irrigated fields. Grain produced in rain-fed fields also had lower peak flour pasting viscosity than grain produced in irrigated fields. Flour ash was lowest in grain from rain-fed fields located in a higher elevation district (Upper Valley) and greatest in grain from irrigated fields located in a lower elevation district (Lower Valley). Noodle hardness and chewiness were greater in Chinese noodles made from grain produced in the Upper Valley than grain from the Lower Valley. Chinese noodle color had significant interaction with the location and irrigation management used for producing the grain. However, Chinese noodle brightness was consistently negatively correlated with flour protein concentration. The color and texture of noodles produced from flours milled from on-farm commercial production was consistent with previous experiment station small-plot research.