doi:10.1094/CFW-60-2-0076 | VIEW ARTICLE

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Soft Kernel Durum Wheat—A New Bakery Ingredient?1

C. F.Morris,²J.Casper,³A. M.Kiszonas,⁴E. P.Fuerst,⁵J.Murray,⁶M. C.Simeone,⁷ and D.Lafiandra<sup>7

1</sup>Names are necessary to report factually on available data; however, the USDA neither guarantees nor warrants the standard of the product, and the use of the name by the USDA implies no approval of the product to the exclusion of others that may also be suitable.²Corresponding author. USDA-ARS Western Wheat Quality Lab, E-202 Food Quality Bldg., WSU, Pullman, WA 99164-6394, U.S.A. E-mail: morrisc@wsu.edu; Tel: +1.509.335.4062; Fax: +1.509.335.8573.³Cargill Oils and Shortenings R&D, Plymouth, MN, U.S.A.⁴USDA-ARS Western Wheat Quality Laboratory, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, U.S.A.⁵Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, U.S.A.⁶School of Food Science, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, U.S.A.⁷Department of Agriculture, Forestry, Nature and Energy, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy. Cereal Foods World 60(2):76-83.

Compared with common (“bread”) wheat, durum wheat often has an equal or better grain yield under heat and drought stress conditions. Considerable attention worldwide is being focused on how climate change may increase the occurrence of heat and drought while water resources continue to shrink. Consequently, it would be reasonable to increase durum wheat production. However, although production of durum wheat is not limited by its agronomics, it is limited, in part, by its narrow range of culinary end-use product applications, i.e., primarily pastas. To overcome the end-use quality constraints imposed by the very hard kernel texture of durum wheat, the Pina and Pinb genes from bread wheat have been successfully transferred into durum wheat by transferring a short piece of puroindoline gene-bearing chromosome 5D using non-GM means. In theory, a broader, more diverse range of end uses for durum wheat should drive consumer demand and, hence, production. Some of the grain, flour, and baking properties of soft kernel durum wheat are described.