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Selecting and Sorting Waxy Wheat Kernels Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

¹USDA ARS, Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Engineering and Wind Erosion Research Unit, Manhattan, KS 66502. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this article is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ²Corresponding author. Phone: 785-776-2753. Fax: 785-537-5550. E-mail: floyd.dowell@ars.usda.gov ³USDA ARS, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Lincoln, NE. ⁴Northern Plains Biostress Lab, Plant Science Department, SDSU, Brookings, SD. ⁵USDA ARS, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Food Safety Laboratory, Beltsville, MD.

An automated single kernel near-infrared (NIR) sorting system was used to separate single wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) kernels with amylose-free (waxy) starch from reduced-amylose (partial waxy) or wild-type wheat kernels. Waxy kernels of hexaploid wheat are null for the granule-bound starch synthase alleles at all three Wx gene loci; partial waxy kernels have at least one null and one functional allele. Wild-type kernels have three functional alleles. Our results demonstrate that automated single kernel NIR technology can be used to select waxy kernels from segregating breeding lines or to purify advanced breeding lines for the low-amylose kernel trait. Calibrations based on either amylose content or the waxy trait performed similarly. Also, a calibration developed using the amylose content of waxy, partial waxy, and wild-type durum (T. turgidum L. var durum) wheat enabled adequate sorting for hard red winter and hard red spring wheat with no modifications. Regression coefficients indicated that absorption by starch in the NIR region contributed to the classification models. Single kernel NIR technology offers significant benefits to breeding programs that are developing wheat with amylose-free starches.