Eleven cultivars of durum wheat (
Triticum durum
L. var. durum Desf.)
were evaluated across five environments in Ethiopia for grain yield, 1000 kernel
weight, protein concentration, gluten strength, mixing time, mixing height, colour
and yellow berry to identify desirable traits for breeding purposes. Gluten strength
was measured by the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) sedimentation test. An electrophoretic
study of gliadin and glutenin proteins was undertaken to investigate possible
associations between these proteins and gluten strength. Significant genotypic
differences were observed for grain yield, 1000 kernel weight, protein content,
SDS-sedimentation volume, yellowness and yellow berry. Six high molecular weight
(HMW) glutenin subunits patterns were identified with the combination of null
and 20 being the most common. For
Glu-B1, the alleles producing protein
subunits of 20 and 7+8 were the most common. Alleles producing protein subunits
of 6+8 were less frequently observed. Three cultivars had pattern LMW-1 while
the remaining eight cultivars had pattern LMW-2. The strongest gluten strength
corresponded to the mixed subunits 7+8/6+8 and 7+8/20, followed by subunits 6+8
and 7+8. Subunit 20 was associated with the lowest gluten strength. Pattern LMW-2
was strongly associated with higher gluten strength compared to LMW-1. The effects
of low molecular weight (LMW) and HMW glutenin subunits were additive. In order
to develop high quality durum wheats, it would be useful to discard lines with
LMW-1 and HMW glutenin subunit 20 and to combine electrophoretic analysis with
the SDS-sedimentation test.