1

VISION AND MISSION IFC

CENTRE OBJECTIVES 3

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 4

MANAGING DIRECTOR’S REPORT 6

STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT 10

COOPERATIVE LINKAGES 14

RESEARCH

PROGRAM 1 16

PROGRAM 2 29

PROGRAM 3A 37

PROGRAM 3B 41

PROGRAM 4 45

PROGRAM 5 51

EDUCATION AND TRAINING 61

UTILISATION, COMMERCIALISATION AND LINKS 69

STAFFING AND ADMINISTRATION 71

PATENTS, PUBLICATIONS, GRANTS AND AWARDS 72

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 76

2

MAJORACHIEVEMENTSAND OUTCOMES

MAJORACHIEVEMENTSAND OUTCOMES

PROGRAM 1

■■ A new method for detecting molecularmarkers to accelerate wheat breeding.

■■ New wheat germplasm with majorbenefits for processors and consumers.

PROGRAM 2

■■ Commercial launch of the WheatRite testfor rain damage.

■■ Improved quality at harvest and receival:agronomy and storage proceduresdeveloped for growers and users.

PROGRAM 3■■ Aids for the management of microbe

contamination in wheat and flour mills.■■ Enhanced process control in bakeries

leading to cost savings and superiorproducts.

PROGRAM 4■■ Methods for the rapid assessment of the

shelf-life of frozen dough products.■■ Product quality improvements; knowledge

of the effects of different starches andother ingredients on bread, pasta andnoodles.

PROGRAM 5■■ New equipment and methods to evaluate

wheat and flour properties.■■ Quality tests to accelerate wheat

breeding.

EDUCATION & TRAINING■■ Multiple advisory aids provided to growers.

Great Grain quality assurance schemepiloted.

■■ Tertiary educated scientists andtechnologists enter the industry,

Quality Wheat CRC operateswithin the framework of the

Commonwealth CooperativeResearch Centres Program withParticipants' cash and in-kindfunding for the Centresupplemented by financial assistancefrom the Commonwealth for aperiod of seven years. Its aim is toachieve a sustainable increase in thecontribution of the wheatproduction, processing and relatedservice activities to Australia. Wewill do this by generating scientific,technical and business systemsknowledge that add value at eachpoint in the production chain.

The Centre comprisesrepresentatives from manufacturersof wheat-based products and themajor agricultural and researchbodies.

The four manufacturers are:Arnott's Biscuits Ltd;Bunge Defiance Mills Ltd (merged with Goodman FielderLtd during 1998/99);George Weston Foods Ltd andGoodman Fielder Ltd.

The other organisationsinvolved are:Grains Research and DevelopmentCorporation;AWB Limited;NSW Agriculture;Agriculture Western Australia;Crop and Food International;BRI Australia Ltd;CSIRO Plant Industry and The University of Sydney.

A senior representative from eachof these organisations sits on theCRC's Board of Directors.

The Quality Wheat CRC mission isto support the commercialdevelopment of the wheatgrowing and products industry -the 'grower to consumer'perspective. The CRC's goalsreflect this industry-wide view,while focusing on those specificareas where the CRC hasparticular value to add to theindustry's development.

The CRC's goals are to:11 Develop new wheats and new

products (food ingredients,feed and alternative use) thatprovide consistency and meetthe quality requirements ofdomestic and export markets.

22 Develop improved diagnostictechniques to accuratelyidentify wheat and productquality consistency at differentpoints in the value addedchain.

33 Develop wheat production,handling and processingtechnology to improveindustry capacity to utilisewheat of varyingcharacteristics, thus improvingthe product performance ofthese wheats.

44 Improve product consistencyand reduce processing coststhrough accelerated adoptionof efficient technology withQuality Management systems.

55 Increase the supply of highlytrained and skilled people inthe industry and theorganisations servicing it.

66 Enhance the competitiveability of the wheat industryresearch and technologicalservices sectors to build (pre-competitive) knowledge toservice Australian and overseasfirms.

Develop new wheats

and new products.

Develop improved

diagnostic techniques.

Develop wheat

production, handling

and processing

technology.

Improve product

consistency and

reduce processing

costs.

Increase the supply of

highly trained and

skilled people in the

industry and the

organisations

servicing it.

Enhance the

competitive ability of

the wheat industry

research and

technological

services sectors.

3

During its fourth year, QualityWheat CRC Ltd (QWCRC)

has continued to exceedperformance expectations. Theseresults have been achieved despitethe tumultuous change beginning toengulf the Australian wheat andrelated-food industries.

There is no doubt that the industryrationalisation, now snowballing, willreshape this Company. Whateverthe industry outcomes, however, thenew research culture developed inQWCRC, the intellectual propertyemerging from it and theinnovations that it will spawn, willall be part of the new industryarchitecture.

Exactly where QWCRC will fit intothat architecture, will be

determined by how well theBoard and management ofthe Company copes withthe uncertainty andambiguity inherent inthis extraordinarilychallenging operatingenvironment.

In the Managing Director’s Report,the achievements of the jointventure have been listed againstthe eight success criteria set at thebeginning of the life of the CRC.Readers can judge these forthemselves. In terms ofcommercial industry outcomes,four developments worthy ofparticular note are:

■ The uptake of the QualityAssurance (QA) systems workof the Company into the “GreatGrain”program beingmarketed in the field by PulseAustralia. While the systemsand commercial entities willundergo furthermetamorphosis, as rivalschemes are offered to theindustry, the application of QAin the industry is now assured;

■ The early emergence of a “hi-tech diagnostics”business fromthe work of the Company,exemplified by the successfuldevelopment and commercialtesting of the WheatRite® rain-damage test kit. Commercialinterest in this and otherdiagnostic products isbeginning to gain momentum;

■ The stream of commercially-valuable germplasm, and newinsights into breedingtechnology, now in thepipeline, flowing from theCompany’s biotechnologyprogram; and

■ The increasing confidence thatthe commercial outcomesemerging to date will besurpassed, in terms of theiroverall impact, by those yet tocome.

During the year, Bunge Defiancewas taken over by GoodmanFielder; the privatisation ofstatutory grain marketing andhandling organisations gatheredmomentum; and the emergentcommercial businesses began toalign themselves to others, inorder to grow and prosper in thenew more-competitiveenvironment.

The changes have not beenconfined to handling andmarketing. New technologycompanies and ventures are alsogerminating. More recently, in aninitiative destined to reshape thewheat-breeding industry, the GRDChas invited expressions-of-interestin developing new structures andapproaches, including proposalsinvolving private-sectorbusinesses.

This activity is but the early stagesof the rationalisation anddevelopment yet to come. In thenew environment, participants arealready looking to shift the focusof much of their business from thehorizontal to the vertical –branching out into “through-chain”activities, from supplyingfarm inputs to marketing value-added food products. Asanticipated in the first AnnualReport of Quality Wheat CRC Ltd,this shift is creating newalignments of business interests.

All these changes constitute boththreats to and opportunities forthe suppliers of research andtechnological services to theindustry, including this Company.Our goal is to make the most ofthe opportunities. To achieve that,we have to meet tworequirements:

4

Dr Geoff Miller,Chairman, QWCRC

■ The first is to continue tocreate value for our existingshareholders, comprising asthey do a substantialproportion of the industry,covering most of the value-adding activities. If wemanage to do that, thenwhatever industryconfigurations and alliancesemerge, the CRC’s science, andthe people who undertake it,will be highly valued andsought-after; and

■ The second is to position thecompany, its structure and itscommercial relationships, soas to best realise the valuecreated by the science, in thecontext of a fast-evolvingindustry; a remaining knownperiod of only three furtheryears of public funding.

Meeting both of theserequirements concurrently isquite a challenge to themanagement team and theBoard. It will be necessary tonurture and enhance thealignment of interests betweenthe scientists and their employers,on the one hand, and betweenthe participants as individualcommercial entities and asshareholders in the Company, onthe other.

Maintaining a community ofinterest among the shareholdersin QWCRC may require somechanges in its structure, even priorto the end of its first seven-yearperiod of public funding. It willcertainly require the developmentof new commercial relationships.

Challenging as these strategicissues are, there is no reason toexpect that they will not behandled by management and theBoard with the same

commitment and competencethat has characterised theCompany during the first fouryears of its life.

I would like to thank BillRathmell and his team, forcontinuing to excel at achallenging assignment, and theExecutive Committee and Board,for their persistently constructiveapproach to governing theCompany. Finally, on behalf of theBoard, I congratulate the scientistsfor continuing to exceedexpectations in creating value forthe shareholders, the industry andthe national economy.

Geoff MillerChairman

5

The fourth Annual Report ofQuality Wheat CRC Ltd

records yet another year of solidresearch progress and excellentscience.There are clear outcomesfor the wheat industry, newintellectual property and steadymovement towardscommercialisation and applicationin the wheat industry. Oureducation and training programshave developed well this year,particularly in technology transferto growers. It is appropriate toreview our progress this year interms of the criteria for successthat we set ourselves at thebeginning of the life of the CRC.I believe this list makes impressivereading:

Increased interactionsbetween groups (commercial and research)■ Many new projects with cross-

site interaction betweenParticipants have been started.This year, for example, suchprojects generating new wheatgermplasm, controlling wheatquality in storage andimproving mill performancehave begun.

■ New research projects havebeen developed or have beenstarted with the non-Participant wheat-growingStates (Queensland,Victoriaand South Australia).

■ In the development of ourstrategies for thecommercialisation of ourbreeding material(germplasm) we have maderesearch links withcommercial organisations likeHybrid WheatAustralia/Sunprime Seeds andwith Monsanto (USA).

■ Overseas research projects arenow also established withagencies in Mexico and inHungary.

■ Expressions of interest in theWheatRite rain-damage test kithave been received from allover the wheat world.

■ The Quality Farms Australiaquality assurance (QA)activity links us to PulseAustralia, the AustralianOilseeds Federation, theAustralian Cotton IndustryCouncil and the GrainsCouncil of Australia.

Commercially importantoutcomes ■ Growers throughout the

country evaluated theWheatRite rain-damage test kitsuccessfully and extensively.

■ The number of diagnostic testssupplied to Australian andoverseas wheat breeders roseto nearly nine thousand.

■ The WheatRite rain-damagetest kit was also used bybreeders to eliminategermplasm showing the "latematurity α-amylase" defect.

■ Cost reductions from the useof our process controlhardware and software in asingle bakery were estimatedat a $75,000 per annumreduction in product wasteand "give away".

■ Our quality assurance (QA)system was developed withothers into a pilot "GreatGrain" program that wasevaluated by leading growers.

■ Food companies within andoutside the CRC tested ourwaxy wheat as an ingredientwith important benefits toprocessors and in the creationof novel foods.

■ Despite adverse climaticconditions AWB Ltd andgrowers enthusiasticallysupported the development ofthe "Prime Hard in the South"concept, and there was muchinput from fertilisermanufacturers.

■ Our research in the southshowed how to recover grainwith high qualitycharacteristics by gradingfollowing frost damage - anoutcome of direct value togrowers that was achieved asa result of a rapid response byCentre scientists to theadverse weather.

An increasing intellectualproperty (IP) portfolio ■ In the year we filed

domestically andinternationally (Canada,Europe, Japan and the USA)on one patent (foodcolouring), and also filed twonew patents covering theWheatRite kit and antibodiesthat discriminate quality-determining wheat proteins.

The fourth Annual

Report of Quality

Wheat CRC Ltd

records yet another

year of solid research

progress and excellent

science.

It's the people who

make up an

organisation that

determine its success,

and all the secondees

and employees of

Quality Wheat CRC

have contributed to

this considerable list of

achievements - special

thanks to all of them.

6

Dr Bill Rathmell,Managing Director, QWCRC

■ We instructed our patentagents on two other pieces ofintellectual property - a novelfood product from waxywheat and a new method toenhance the use of molecularmarkers in wheat breeding.

■ We registered the trademarkWheatRite in Australia,Canada, Europe, the USA andin other countries.

■ Important research projectsprovided genes and breedingmaterial (germplasm) with anumber of valuable benefits tofarmers, processors andconsumers such as resistanceto rain damage, improvedbread, noodles and biscuitsand improved factoryefficiency. The potential grossvalue of some of thesebenefits is large (in the $2-$60M per annum range inAustralia alone).

Commercialisation of Centreoutcomes■ The strategy based on the

creation of a company, QWInvestments Pty (QWIP), toattract outside investment to,and manage, the developmentand commercialisation ofCentre inventions hascontinued.

■ The Board approved the useof Centre funds to progress theWheatRite kit.An agreementwas signed with the nationaldistributor of the kit, andnegotiations have continuedon a manufacturingagreement. Production of thefirst batch of kits has beencompleted following receiptof an order from thedistributor.

■ The Board of the Companyalso approved a continuingstrategy for thecommercialisation of theCentre's intellectual property(IP) outcomes that are in theform of germplasm (wheatgenetic material).This isfurther discussed below.

■ The progress of Quality FarmsAustralia (QFA - whichincludes Quality Wheat CRC)was described at Grains Weekin Perth where there wasgeneral support shown for theadoption of QA on-farm.Tospeed up delivery tointerested growers, PulseAustralia is marketing andsupporting our Wheat QAprogram through their "GreatGrain" concept.A per capitapayment will be made toQWCRC for the use of oursource materials.A contractwith Pulse Australia has nowbeen signed.

Increased technology transferwithin the wheat industry■ We held a workshop, "Late

Maturity α-amylase in Wheat",to report on the occurrence ofthis problem in Australianbreeding material. Seniorrepresentatives attended thisfrom all the Australian wheatbreeding programs.

■ Representatives of all fourmanufacturing Participantsattended a forum organisedby two of the major researchprovider Participants todescribe the latest results andindustry application of thedough rheology work.

■ Another workshop, "Tools forAchieving Wheat QualityTargets", was used topromulgate major agronomicoutcomes to all Participants'staff.

■ The Centre co-supported(with Topcrop Australia)materials on quality producedby SARDI for farmers in SouthAustralia.We also supported(with Participants and fertiliserdistributors) a brochure onquality for growers in thenorthern part of the southernwheat belt.

■ We published our secondindustry newsletter during theyear and also a suite ofarticles on wheat qualityissues in Farming Ahead.

Financial commitment fromindustry■ A number of new proposals

for additional complementaryresearch have again beenaccepted by the GRDC.Theseadded a further $430,000 tothe value of the researchunder the management of theCompany.

■ In addition, the budgetdeveloped for the coreactivities of the Centre isabout $400,000 above theoriginal CommonwealthAgreement.

7

Increased impact of theCentre's education andtraining programs■ The number of postgraduate

students has risen to eighteen,four finished during the yearunder review. Seven new oneswill start next year. Six of therecent finishers are nowworking in the wheat industry.

■ Increasing numbers of QualityWheat for Quality Foodscourses have been given, anda version of the course hasbeen prepared for using atsmaller growers' assemblies.

■ We co-sponsored an "AsianWheat Users and Markets"course for (Western)Australian Farmers.

■ Eight vacation students weregiven projects this year: threeworked in industry and onesubsequently negotiatedemployment in a Participant'slaboratory.

■ A total of 63 industrymanagers, staff and studentsattended two workshops,"Wheat Proteins and DoughProperties" and "Molecular Techniques for Rapid WheatBreeding".

■ Our Wheat Quality fact sheetsproved valuable to extensionofficers.

■ A grain storage CD wasprepared for release in spring.

Provision of an efficient andselective researchmanagement infrastructure ■ Again we had a successful

Audit of the Company and wemet all Board-required andCommonwealth-requiredcorporate governancestandards and laws.

■ The preliminary report of theeconomic evaluation of theCentre's program wasreceived.This study, jointlydone by the Centre andGRDC, is now the subject offurther research involvingparticipants, both commercialand research providers.

■ Staffing levels at head officehave remained as last year,and existing staff have dealtwith communication andcommercialisation activities.

Impressive as this list is, wecontinue to work towardsattracting additional investmentfrom the private sector that willenable us to commercialise moreefficiently the Company'soutcomes, especially those thatare in the form of wheatgermplasm.These outputs fromQWCRC research will form thebasis of some of the first wheatsavailable anywhere in the worldwith benefits such as these:

■ improved food processingquality, reduced wastage andcosts - (wheats with highamylopectin starch, specialbiscuit wheats),

■ more desirable naturalingredients, fewer undesirableadditives and wastes - (wheatswith enhanced naturalpigments and improvedmilling yield),

■ industrial starch manufacturewith reduced environmentalimpact - (uniform starchgranule size) and

■ increased farmer revenues -(white wheats withdependable resistance to rain-damage).

8

These benefits (some of which, asstated earlier, have a largepotential value) need to bedelivered to growers, handlersand manufacturers by beingincorporated into adapted wheatvarieties.The wheat varieties haveto be bred so that they aresuitable for farmers in differentclimates and for manufacturers ofdifferent products and, as such,provide the opportunity for globalsales.

Management has had extensivediscussions with companiesabout suitable strategicalliance(s) to achieve this. Manycompanies in Australia andworldwide are trying to positionthemselves for the introduction ofidentity-preserved, biotechnologybased wheat products.There is aneed for a commercially runwheat-breeding programme inAustralia with the resources tobring QWCRC's germplasm (andthat of other germplasmproviders) to the market. QWCRCis strategically positioned to beinvolved in these changes inAustralia, with its focus onproducts ready for the market inthe next few years.

In closing this year's report Iwould like to offercongratulations and thanks to thefollowing people. Congratulationsto Dr Kevin Sheridan, a Director,who was awarded an AO in the1999 Queen's Birthday Honours.Dr Chris Hudson, also a Director,was appointed Adjunct Professorin the Faculty of NaturalResources (Department ofAgriculture and VeterinaryScience) at the University ofQueensland. He was alsoappointed to the Board of theAustralia and New Zealand FoodAuthority (ANZFA). Dr JohnSkerritt, Program five Manager, wasappointed Deputy Director of theAustralian Centre for InternationalAgricultural Research (ACIAR)

and received the AmericanAssociation of Cereal Chemists'(AACC) "Young Investigator"award. He and three other CRCsecondees from CSIRO Division ofPlant Industry (Rudi Appels, FrankBékés and Peter Gras) receivedawards from the Chief of theDivision. Bob Cracknell becamepresident of the InternationalAssociation for Cereal Scienceand Technology (ICC) andbecame a Director of AACC. FinMacRitchie, formerly seconded tothe Centre from CSIRO PlantIndustry, and now professor inKansas State UniversityDepartment of Grain Science andIndustry, received the ThomasBurr Osborne medal from AACC.

Personal thanks to the Company'sheadquarters staff,Alan Ellis,Helen Warwick, Clare Johnsonand Maria Foster and to theSenior Management Group.

I'd particularly like to record thecontribution that John Skerrittmade to the CRC before hemoved on. Not only did he keepabreast of the science, but he alsocontributed to the educationprogram, the IP portfolio and thecommercialisation endeavourswith energy and effectiveness.It's the people who make up anorganisation that determine itssuccess, and all the secondeesand employees of Quality WheatCRC have contributed to thisconsiderable list of achievements- special thanks to all of them.

Dr Bill RathmellManaging Director

9

Ms Helen WarwickExecutive Assistant andCommunications Coordinator

The Centre was established inJuly 1995 under the

Commonwealth Government'sCooperative Research Centresprogram by agreement betweenthe Participants (CentreAgreement) and with theGovernment (CommonwealthAgreement). In the first two yearsof operation the research wasmanaged under a three programstructure. However, it was felt thatmore effective programmanagement could be achieved byestablishment of a five programstructure whereby the educationprogram (coordinated by theCentre's Education and Trainingofficer) was absorbed within therelevant programs.This structurehas been operational since 1997and the merits of this decision havebeen confirmed.

The ParticipantsSix commercial and six non-commercial organisations.

QWCRC BoardThe CRC Board of Directorscomprises representatives of theCRC participants, the ManagingDirector and an independentChairperson.

The Board determines thestrategic direction the Centre willtake and sets specificperformance milestones for thecore research programs. It alsooversights management of theCRC (in particular managementof program outcomes), theCentre's staff, researchers and

financial matters and approvesthe Centre's Annual OperatingPlan and the Annual Report.

Board membership comprises (as at 30/6/99):

The Executive CommitteeThe Board is assisted by anExecutive Committee comprisingthe Chairman, Managing Director,and three other Board members.

The Executive Committee:■ manages the various aspects

of the activities of the CRC asdetermined by the Board fromtime to time and

■ carries on the business of theBoard between Boardmeetings.

The Managing DirectorThe Managing Director is amember of the Board and isresponsible for management ofthe Centre.

The Managing Director:■ provides leadership to the

Centre;■ ensures that Centre funds are

used in accordance with thebudget in the Annual

Operating Plan;■ monitors and keeps the Board

informed of the Centre'sperformance;

■ supervises the ProgramManagers and

■ identifies new researchopportunities.

The Senior ManagementGroupA Senior Management Group(SMG), comprising the ManagingDirector, the Program Managersand the Business Manager, plusrepresentatives from any researchprovider not otherwiserepresented on the Committee,oversees management andevaluation of the Centre's totaloperations through:■ identification and prioritising

activities against industryneeds;

■ monitoring programperformance;

■ developing administrativepolicies and procedures forthe Centre as a whole and

■ assisting the ManagingDirector in development ofannual budgets, andperformance reporting for theCentre, advising the ManagingDirector on issues to be raisedwith the Board, and oneffective means of respondingto specific concerns orrequests.

Project EvaluationDuring the year, projects in theQuality Wheat CRC program wereevaluated along with GRDCprojects in the GRDC QualityWheat program . ProfessorGordon MacAulay (professor ofAgricultural Economics, SydneyUniversity) in conjunction withconsultants from The Centre forInternational Economics (CIE)conducted a two-phased projectwith the first phase reporting onthe economic model of the grainsindustry to be used for theanalysis.

Mr Alan EllisBusiness Manager

10

Industrial Non-Industrial

Arnott’s Biscuits Ltd Agriculture Western Australia

AWB Ltd BRI Australia Ltd

Bunge Defiance Pty Ltd* CSIRO Plant Industry

George Weston Foods Ltd NSW Agriculture

Goodman Fielder Ltd Crop & Food International

Grains Research & Development Corp. University of Sydney* during 1998-99, Bunge Defiance merged with Goodman Fielder

Members Representing

Dr G Miller Chairman

Dr W Rathmell Managing Director

Dr G Robertson Agriculture Western Australia

Mr R Wotzak Arnott’s Biscuits Ltd

Mr J Crosbie AWB Ltd

Mr N Marran BRI Australia Ltd

Dr J Huppatz CSIRO Plant Industry

Dr M Dunbier Crop & Food International

Mr P Loneragan George Weston Foods Ltd

Dr C Hudson Goodman Fielder Ltd

Prof J Lovett Grains Research & Development Corporation

Dr L Cook NSW Agriculture

Prof R Tanner University of Sydney

This study, done jointly by theCentre and GRDC also involvedstaff from most of the othercommercial Participants of theCentre as well as the researchproviders. The analytical workwas completed in the year underreview and the conclusions willbe discussed and implementedduring 1999-2000.

CRC SubsidiaryTo help exploit andcommercialise R&D outcomesQuality Wheat CRC established,during the year under review, afully owned subsidiary QWInvestments Pty Ltd. TheDirectors of this company are DrWilliam Rathmell and Mr AlanEllis.

The CRC's managementstructure is illustrated above.

11

Board of Directors

Executive Committee

Managing Director

Audit Committee

ORGANISATION CHART

BusinessManager

Program 1Manager

New Wheats &Breeding Aids

Program 2Manager

Growing &Storing Quality

Wheat

Program 3AManager

Processing ofWheat & Wheat

Products(Milling)

Program 3BManager

Processing ofWheat & Wheat

Products(Baking)

Program 4Manager

Products fromWheat

Program 5Manager

Education &Training

ProjectEvaluationCommittee

Flour & DoughComponents &

their Interaction

Dr Douglas GrahamCRC Visitor

Dr Geoff Miller AOChairmanQuality Wheat CRC LtdRiverside Corporate Park51 Delhi RoadNORTH RYDE NSW 2113

Geoff Miller is a corporate adviser in agribusinessand a company director. He is ExecutiveChairman of GCM Strategic Services Pty Ltd andChairman of the Board of Quality Wheat CRC Ltd.He is also a Director of the Queensland SugarCorporation, Nemair Cotton Coop. Ltd and JEMBoards Ltd; a member of the Board of Trustees ofthe International Food Policy Research Institute;and adjunct Professor of Agribusiness at theUniversity of New England. In the past, he hasserved (inter alia) as Chairman of the PrimaryIndustries and Energy Research Council; a memberof the CRC Council; a member of the PolicyAdvisory Council of ACIAR Ltd and of theAustralian Wheat Board. He had a distinguishedresearch career with the (then) Bureau ofAgricultural Economics, including important workon wheat marketing.

Dr Bill RathmellManaging DirectorQuality Wheat CRC LtdRiverside Corporate Park51 Delhi RoadNORTH RYDE NSW 2113

Bill Rathmell joined Quality Wheat CRC as itsManaging Director at the end of 1995. Between1991 and 1995 Bill was Research & DevelopmentDirector of SES Europe, a supplier and breeder ofagricultural seeds based in Belgium. Prior to that,he was Exploratory Plant Science Manager at ICI’sAgricultural Research Station in the UK. He isadjunct Professor in the Faculty of Agriculture inthe University of Sydney. He has also held anumber of academic posts in the USA and Europe.

Mr John CrosbieGeneral ManagerAgrifood Technology260 Princes HwyWERRIBEE VIC 3030

John Crosbie has been General Manager ofAgrifood Technology (formerly the Academy ofGrain Technology or AGT) since December 1995.Agrifood Technology is the technical servicesdivision of AWB Limited, and is responsible forAWB Limited's quality assurance program.

Other major Agrifood Technology activities includeproviding technical marketing support, market-focussed R&D, seed testing services andcommercial analytical, training and consultingservices to Australian agribusiness. He joined AWBLtd in 1979, and has been a member of theExecutive since May 1992. Between 1991 and 1995,he held the position of Senior Manager of AWBLimited's State Office network. He was WA StateManager between 1987 and 1991, and NSWOperations Superintendent between 1983 and1986. He has had broad experience in servicingTechnical Markets in Sri Lanka, Egypt, the MiddleEast and Asia.

Dr Graeme RobertsonChief Executive OfficerAgriculture Western Australia3 Baron-Hay CourtSOUTH PERTH WA 6151

Graeme Robertson has held this present post sinceAugust 1995. His career has involved a wide rangeof research, development and managementactivities in agriculture, including a period asofficer in charge of the Kimberley region, Directorof Resource Management and Commissioner of SoilConservation, before being appointed DeputyDirector General of the Department in 1990. Hehas been involved in a number of national andstate activities involving agriculture and resourcemanagement, including 6 years as the inauguralchair of Land and Water Resources Research andDevelopment Corporation.

Mr Norman Marran ChairmanBRI Australia LtdRiverside Corporate Park51 Delhi RoadNORTH RYDE NSW 2113

Norman Marran has wide experience inagribusiness and has spent most of his workinglife in agriculture, initially a pioneer of theAustralian cotton industry as Chairman and CEOof Auscott Ltd and director of Cargill OilseedsAustralia Ltd, subsequently in the grains industryas a director of the Australian Wheat Board,member of the Wheat Research Council andgraingrower in North Central NSW. He iscurrently Chairman of the Northern Regional Panelof GRDC, Chairman of BRI Australia Ltd anddirector of Combined Rural Traders Ltd.

Dr Michael Dunbier Chief Executive OfficerCrop & Food InternationalGerald StreetLINCOLN NEW ZEALAND

Michael Dunbier is Chief Executive of Crop andFood International based in Christchurch, NewZealand. He was formerly a Director of the GrainsResearch and Development Corporation and theNew Zealand Foundation for Research, Science andTechnology.

Professor John Lovett Managing DirectorGrains Research and Development Corporation40 Blackall StreetBARTON ACT 2604

Appointed Managing Director of the GrainsResearch & Development Corporation in September1994, John Lovett was formerly Professor ofAgronomy in the University of New England. Hehas experience in science and technology,communications, environmental matters and themanagement of research and development. Heserved as Chairman of the Oilseeds ResearchCouncil, becoming Deputy Chairman of the GrainsResearch & Development Corporation in October1990.

Dr Chris Hudson Director Research andDevelopmentGoodman Fielder Ltd2 Smith StreetSUMMER HILL NSW 2130

Chris Hudson is Research and DevelopmentDirector of Goodman Fielder Ltd. He has worked inthe food industry in Australia, USA and South EastAsia for 26 years. He is a Fellow of the AustralianInstitute of Food Science and Technology and aFellow of the Academy of Technological Sciencesand Engineering. He was President of theAustralian Industrial Research Group (1995-96)and is a Director of the CRC for Plant Science. Heis currently President-elect of the AustralianInstitute of Food Science and Technology.

12

Dr Bill RathmellManaging DirectorQuality Wheat CRC

Mr John CrosbieGeneral ManagerAgrifood Technology

Dr Graeme RobertsonChief Executive OfficerAgriculture WesternAustralia

Mr Norman MarranChairman,BRI Australia Ltd

Dr Geoff MillerChairmanQuality Wheat CRC

Mr Robert WotzakGeneral Manager - TechnicalDevelopmentArnott’s Biscuits Ltd11 George StreetHOMEBUSH NSW 2140

Robert Wotzak is currently the General Manager- Technical Development for Arnott’s BiscuitsLimited. In the past 10 months, Robert hasprovided the leadership for the ProductDevelopment, Applied Research and PackagingDevelopment functions. He has also establishedand currently manages Arnott’s newly createdConsumer Contact Centre. Prior to joiningArnott’s, he was the Regional Research andDevelopment Director - Asia Pacific forCampbell Soup in Melbourne. Robert’sresponsibilities in this position included thedirect management of the R & D functions forCampbells - Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia,Spring Valley and Campbells Mushrooms.

Professor Roger Tanner P N Russell Professor ofMechanical EngineeringUniversity of SydneySYDNEY NSW 2006

Roger Tanner began his career in England in theaero-engine industry. Subsequently he has heldacademic appointments as Professor ofEngineering in England, USA, France andAustralia. His personal research is in rheology,which is the science of deformation and flow ofmaterials, and especially in the application oflarge computing efforts to solve practicalproblems in shaping materials. Professor Tannerhas been a director of several CRCs andcompanies. He has served as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Sydneyand also as the Foreign Secretary of the AustralianAcademy of Science.

Dr John Huppatz Assistant ChiefCSIRO Plant IndustryGPO Box 1600CANBERRA ACT 2601

John Huppatz is a graduate of the University ofAdelaide with a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. Hisresearch career with CSIRO Plant Industryinvolved structure/activity relationships andmechanisms of action of chemicals affecting plantgrowth, in particular herbicides and plant growthregulators. His broader interests include thebiochemistry and molecular biology of plantgrowth and development. He is currently DeputyChief of CSIRO Plant Industry.

Mr Paul LoneraganDivisional Chief ExecutiveWeston Cereal Industries1 Braidwood StENFIELD NSW 2136

Paul Loneragan has spent his working life in theFlour Milling and Baking industries. He joinedGeorge Weston Foods Limited in 1986 and iscurrently the Divisional Chief Executive of WestonCereal Industries (Cereals Division) which coversthe flour milling, stockfeed manufacturing andfood ingredients business in both Australia andNew Zealand.

Dr Lindsay CookDirector GeneralAgriculture NSW161 Kite StreetORANGE NSW 2800

Lindsay Cook obtained a B.Ag Science fromMelbourne and a PhD from New England. Hespent a post doctoral year at Oregan StateUniversity. He researched pasture seed productionproblems in the Victorian Department ofAgriculture before moving to New South Wales tolead the seeds section for NSW Agriculture. In thisposition he was responsible for seed certificationand registration schemes and the seeds laboratory.Subsequently, he was appointed PrincipalAgronomist (Cereals) and Director of PlantProduction Research. He currently holds theposition of Chief, Division of Plant Industries. Thisdivision undertakes NSW Agriculture’s researchand extension programs for all field crops,pastures and rangelands, annual and perennialhorticulture, and in soil management, irrigationwater management and land use planning.

13

Dr Michael Dunbier Chief Executive Officer,Crop & FoodInternational

Professor John LovettManaging DirectorGrains Research &Development Corporation

Dr Chris HudsonDirector Research andDevelopmentGoodman Fielder Ltd.

Mr Robert WotzakGeneral Manager - Technical DevelopmentArnott’s Biscuits Ltd

Professor Roger TannerP N Russel Professor ofMechanical EngineeringThe University of Sydney

Dr John Huppatz Assistant ChiefCSIRO Plant Industry

Mr Paul LoneraganDivisional Chief ExecutiveWeston Cereal Industries

Dr Lindsay CookDirector GeneralAgriculture NSW

An important success criterionfor the Centre is that it

promotes research linkages and co-operation amongst its ownParticipants as well as withoutsiders (commercial andresearchers).There are manyexamples mentioned throughoutthis report, and these aresummarised here.

1. Most of the projects with cross-site interaction initiated inprevious years have continued(see the Performance Indicatorssection). Particularly noticeablehave been the links withAgriculture WA through thequality assurance, education andagronomy projects, and with theNZ Institute for Crop and FoodResearch in processing projects.There are also several newprojects with cross-siteinteraction that have started inthe year under review:

■ A project (1.4.1) to extend thesoft wheat breeding programto the Southern region, (thishas cash and in-kind supportfrom Arnott's Biscuits,involvement fromBunge/Defiance (nowGoodman Fielder) and GeorgeWeston Foods, and theresearch is being conductedby the University of Sydneyand NSW Agriculture).

■ A project (2.1.6) widelysupported by industrialParticipants to evaluatepractical solutions to thecontrol of wheat quality instorage. Bunge/Defiance,Goodman Fielder and GeorgeWeston Foods have beenactive in this project whichhas also involved staff fromCSIRO Plant Industry and fromCSIRO Entomology (StoredGrains Research Laboratory)

■ A project (3.1.5) also widelysupported, which came out ofa brainstorming session, tostudy novel approaches to thecontrol of mill performance.This is being conductedbetween commerciallaboratories (GoodmanFielder) and BRI Australia.

2. Projects within the Centre thatinvolve scientists from non-Participant organisations havecontinued this year.The list nowincludes:

■ significant new links withCSIRO Entomology Division(Stored Grains ResearchLaboratory) in the above grainstorage project (2.1.1/6);

■ the mill microbiology project(3.1.4) - this project involvesFood Science Australia staff;which was the first example ofa wholly Centre-fundedproject employing scientistsnot part of any Participantorganisation and

■ the "Prime Hard in the South"project which, though not new,received this year very highlevels of interest across allCentre Participants, as well asexternal organisations. Mostnotable were CSIRO, NSWAgriculture, GRDC,AWB Ltd,Weston's, Incitec fertilizers,Pivot Agriculture, and agenciesfrom Victoria and SouthAustralia.

■ We have suppliedimmunoassay-based test-kits towheat breeders at the CentroInternacional deMejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo(CIMMYT - Mexico City) aswell as Australian wheatbreeders for their use in rapididentification of a qualitycharacter (for the ryechromosome translocation"1B/1R") in early breedinglines.The total number of testsrose to nearly 9000 (5.1.4).

■ In addition, our links with theCRC for Molecular Plantbreeding have developed, withnew research collaborationsunder discussion, and theManaging Director serving onthe Industry AdvisoryCommittee of the Adelaide-based Centre.

3. Links with research groupsoutside Quality Wheat CRChave also been establishedthrough GRDC-funded researchprojects complementary toCRC-funded work. In the yearunder review we have beeninvolved in the followingprojects, drawing in the groupsindicated from outside theCentre:

■ Amelioration of GeneticFactors which Result inDowngrading of Wheat atReceival (1996 application forfunding by CRC project leaderDr Daryl Mares involvingscientists from QueenslandDPI; project now in progress);

■ The Chemical and GeneticBasis of Noodle Quality(Project in progress, co-ordinated by CRC programmanager Dr Ken Quail andinvolving scientists fromVictorian Institute for DrylandAgriculture (VIDA) and fromSA);

■ Flexibility of Wheat Use (1996application co-ordinated byCRC secondees Drs JohnOliver and Colin Wrigley,contracted through the Centre,also involving scientists fromVIDA,Agriculture Victoria,SARDI, University of Adelaide,and from Queensland DPI.This project is now in progressas 2.1.5).

■ A project to develop high-protein wheat genotypes for Sand W regions (co-ordinatedby a scientist from SARDIsuccessfully applied for during1997/8 and now on-going).

14

■ An extension to the "PrimeHard in the South" project,which has involved a widerange of groups (project 2.1.2)was successfully run last year.

■ The newly accepted (in1998/9) GRDC project toidentify key qualitycharacteristics required bybread manufacturers using thesponge and dough process (towhich the Centre willcontribute $23K, Program 4).This involves extensivecollaboration with the LeslieResearch Institute, QueenslandDPI.

4. There has been a markedincrease this year in the numberof workshops, seminars andpublications specifically designedto enhance technology transferbetween Participants and tooutside commercial andresearch entities, for example:

■ A workshop, "Late Maturity α-amylase in Wheat", to reporton a study of Australianbreeding material (August1998 - Program 1). Seniorrepresentatives attended thisfrom all the Australian WheatBreeding programs.

■ In October 1998,representatives of all fourmanufacturing Participantsattended a forum organisedby two of the major researchprovider Participants todescribe the latest results andindustry application of thedough rheology work.

■ In February 1999 we held aworkshop "MolecularTechniques for Rapid WheatBreeding" which a total of 46industry managers, staff andstudents attended.

■ In March 1999, the workshop,"Tools for Achieving WheatQuality Targets", was used topromulgate major outcomesof Program 2 to allParticipants' staff.

■ The Centre co-supported (withTopcrop Australia) the"Managing Wheat for Quality"and "Nitrogen Managementfor Wheat….." guidelinesmaterials produced by SARDIfor farmers in South Australia.

■ We also supported (withParicipants and fertiliserdistributors) "Increasing GrainProtein in Southern Cropswith Topdressed Nitrogen" - abrochure for growers in theNorthern part of the Southernwheat belt.

■ This year there has been aseries of six articles in FarmingAhead, two in AustralianGrain, and others inpublications as diverse asRural Weekly and Central andNorth Burnett Times(Queensland).

■ We also published our secondindustry Newsletter during theyear.This document waswidely circulated anddescribed outcomes fromseveral Centre projects.

5. Links with groups outside theCentre and overseas have beenstrengthened by ourcommercialisation endeavours.

■ In the development of ourstrategies forcommercialisation of ourgermplasm we are discussinglinks with several commercialentities, and have made newresearch links with HybridWheat Australia/SunprimeSeeds and Monsanto (USA).

■ Evaluation of a larger sampleof "waxy" wheat (Programs 1and 4) was conducted by anon-Participant company aswell as by Participants in theCRC and this providedevidence of new processingbenefits to be derived fromthis type of product.

■ The WheatRite rain-damagetest kit was evaluatedsuccessfully and extensivelyby growers throughout thecountry and also used bybreeders around Australia todetect germplasm showing the"late maturity α-amylase"defect.Agreement has nowbeen reached with a nationaldistributor, Graintec ofToowoomba and negotiationshave continued with Amrad-ICT to complete amanufacturing agreement.Interest in the test has beenreceived from all round theworld.

■ International interest has alsobeen expressed in the newtype of small-scale doughmixing machine we have builtin a research project (5.1.6)with the Hungarian Institutefor R&D (OMFB).

■ The Quality Farms Australiainitiative now includes PulseAustralia, the AustralianOilseeds Federation, theAustralian Cotton IndustryCouncil and the GrainsCouncil of Australia as well asQWCRC.A quality assurancescheme, "Great Grain - QualityAssurance for Grain Growers",has been produced in a jointinitiative with Pulse Australia. Itis being piloted by a numberof grower groups around thecountry so that refinementscan be made.

15

PROGRAM 1: NEW WHEATS AND BREEDING AIDSProgram Manager: Professor D.R. Marshall

Professor Don MarshallProgram Manager

PROGRAM 1 OBJECTIVES

Identification and

characterisation of

novel sources of

variation for a range of

wheat quality

attributes.

Tagging of the genes

responsible for

variation in wheat

quality traits.

Development of rapid

breeding protocols.

Using these protocols

to develop new

cultivars for specialty

quality markets.

16

The development of new wheatvarieties with novel

processing and manufacturingqualities is a key component of theCRC research and developmentprogram. Such wheats areimportant, first, in improving andexpanding the production and valueadding opportunities for theAustralian wheat industry, andsecond, in delivering the benefits ofresearch and development in wheatquality to both producers and theprocessing industries. They are alsoimportant in the commercialisationof a significant proportion of theintellectual property of the QualityWheat CRC, nationally andinternationally.

In this process, particular emphasisis given to ensuring that theresearch findings of the CRC andits partners, which can be deliveredto industry via breeding, are madeavailable for commercial use asquickly as possible. We are seekingto do this directly by the jointdevelopment of new wheats withbreeders, or indirectly, through thedevelopment of more efficientbreeding technologies.

Program ObjectivesThe objectives of the program,focusing breeding on industryrequirements, are thus to identifynew and novel sources ofvariation in economicallyimportant wheat quality andprocessing traits to develop anddeploy molecular geneticmarkers for this novel variation toallow its rapid incorporation intobreeding programs and todevelop, through strategicalliances with breeding programs,new commercial cultivars withimproved processing qualities.

The research objectives ofProgram 1 are being pursued bymeans of a four-pronged strategy:

■ identification andcharacterisation of novelsources of variation for a

range of wheat qualityattributes such as starch,protein and pentosan contentand composition;

■ tagging of the genesresponsible for variation inwheat quality traits usingcutting edge molecularmarker techniques;

■ development of rapidbreeding protocols usingmolecular markers anddoubled haploid technologyand

■ using these protocols todevelop new cultivars forspecialty quality marketsincluding new soft wheatcultivars for biscuit and cakeproduction, and wheats withwaxy starch.

These outputs from QWCRCresearch will form the basis ofsome of the first wheats availableanywhere in the world withbenefits such as these:

■ improved food processingquality, reduced wastage andcosts – (Wheats with highamylopectin starch, specialbiscuit wheats);

■ more desirable naturalingredients, fewer undesirableadditives and wastes –(Wheats with enhancednatural pigments andimproved milling yield);

■ industrial starch manufacturewith reduced environmentalimpact – (Uniform starchgranule size) and

■ increasing farmer revenues –(White wheats withdependable resistance to rain-damage).

The potential gross value of someof these benefits is large (in the$2-$60M per annum range inAustralia alone), impactingdirectly on processor profits. Forinstance, the environmental costsof disposing of effluentcontaining small granules has

been estimated at $25-40 pertonne of wheat used in industrialstarch manufacture (half amillion tonnes per year inAustralia).

The above benefits need to bedelivered to growers, handlersand manufacturers by beingincorporated into adapted wheatvarieties.The wheat varieties haveto be bred so that they aresuitable for farmers in differentclimates and for manufacturers ofdifferent products and as suchprovide the opportunity for globalsales.

At present only a small minorityof the germplasm projects ofQWCRC Ltd involve transfer ofgenes by genetic engineering intothe new wheats (geneticallymodified organisms or GMOs). Inthe longer term more suchprojects could be included.Thiscould occur when there isdemand from the market andwhen the technical capabilityexists, also provided there ispublic and governmentacceptance of such projects.

Project 1.1.1 - Exploiting newvariants in starch B granulecontentProject Leader: Dr. F. Stoddard

Background and ObjectivesIn the developing wheatendosperm, starch is deposited intwo main sizes of granule, type Awith diameter of about 25 µmand type B with diameter ofabout 5 µm.This project wasstarted because starch/glutenmanufacturers reported that Bgranules were lost duringprocessing, necessitatingadditional treatment of the wastewater. Starch end-users also haveexpressed a requirement for aunimodal granule sizedistribution, and biscuitmanufacturers wanted reducedwater absorption, which could

also be achieved by reducing B-granule content. Our objectivesare therefore to establish thegenetic basis for variation in B-granule content and then to usethat knowledge in the efficientproduction of new wheatcultivars with greatly reduced B-granule content.

ProgressIn the three previous years of thisproject, we have determined therange of B-granule contentavailable in a range of wheat andrelated species. One soft wheatwas much lower in B-granulecontent than any other cultivarand this line, which we call“Outlier 67”, is an importantsource for further development.We also investigated theexpression of B-granule contentin the cross of cv Sunco with Iraqlandrace ME71 and found that itwas determined by several genes.Both additive and dominantforms of gene expression werefound and epistatic interactionwas also significant, indicatingthat this trait is complex in itsinheritance. In addition, weshowed that the B-granulecontent of an endosperm wasdetermined by its own genotype,not that of the mother plant.

This year we have examined theexpression of B-granule contentin detail in several crosses. Inevery case, additive, dominantand epistatic expression were allsignificant. In addition, cytoplasmoften played a small butsignificant role.These resultsshow that we are dealing with atypical quantitative trait.We havetherefore had a doubled-haploidpopulation produced from thecross of Vulcan x Kewell,representing the greatest extremesof B-granule content available inAustralian germplasm.Thispopulation of 400 lines has beengrown in controlled environmentchambers, to produce reliable

data on B-granule content, andalso in the field at Narrabri, toproduce larger quantities of grainfor testing.We are in the processof seeking molecular markers thatwill co-segregate with B-granulecontent in this population. Suchmarkers will enable moreefficient tracking of geneslowering B-granule content.

We have previously found wildwheat relatives with no apparentB granules.We are attempting totransfer this trait to domesticatedwheats. Grains from a secondbackcross of one species tocultivar Kewell showed a broadrange of B-granule contents thatwas not correlated with grainfilling.This result clearly refutesthe argument that B granules areproduced to “fill space” in anearly full endosperm.

Outlier 67 has been crossed toVulcan to produce anexperimental population forfurther genetic studies.We haveconsulted with several potentialend-users to determine whatother attributes are desirable in alow B-granule cultivar. On thisbasis, three recent cultivars havebeen selected for crossing toOutlier 67.

Project 1.1.2 - Manipulation ofthe yellow colour of Asianalkaline noodlesProject Leader: Dr. D. Mares

Background and ObjectivesColour is an importantcomponent of quality in yellowalkaline noodles (YAN) and playsa major role in determiningconsumer acceptance andmarket access.A number ofindependent genetic factorscontrol colour and these areaffected by the growingenvironment and the flour millingprocess in different ways.This isparticularly important for some of

the flour constituents involved inthe development and stability ofcolour that derive from graintissues other than the starchyendosperm. Critical factorsinclude: the initial brightness offlour and noodles, the degree ofbran and germ contamination offlour, the xanthophyll andflavonoid content of the flour, andthe stability of brightness and theyellow colour. In addition theremay be interactions betweenthese factors.There isconsiderable potential to improveall of the components of YANcolour and in so doing toincrease the competitiveadvantage of Australian wheat inthis important export market, toreduce the need for artificialcolour additives, and to developspeciality wheats for existing ornew products. The focus of thisproject is on improving the yellowcolour of YAN both directly, bymanipulating xanthophylls andflavonoids, and indirectly byreducing deleterious interactionswith other factors such asoxidative darkening.

ProgressStability of flavonoids in noodles The apigenin diglycosides whichare the major flour constituentsresponsible for the alkali-inducedyellow colour of YAN, appeared tobe very stable chemically during2 days storage of raw noodles.Aseries of experiments involvingthe use of specific inhibitors, heattreatments and germplasm withextreme diffences in enzymelevels, indicated that thesecompounds were unlikely to beoxidized by polyphenol oxidase(PPO). By contrast, an as yetunidentified minor constituentwas rapidly degraded in rawnoodles, in noodles that had beenheated to denature enzymes, andin aqueous solution. Degradationof this component of yellowcolour is therefore non-enzymicand presumably contributes to

17

the slight loss in yellow colourthat occurs in raw noodles overtime.Whilst PPO does not directlyaffect the yellow compounds, thedark oxidation productsproduced by PPO and possiblyother oxidases can mask theyellow colour and cause anapparent loss in b*.This effectwas quantified by adding blackindian ink to noodle sheetsthereby enabling thedevelopment of a mathematicalrelationship between change inL* (brightness) and b*(yellowness).The practicalsignificance of this interactionwas demonstrated by ranking aset of doubled haploid lines inorder of increasing final b*. Highand stable b* was associated withlines that had low PPO.As aconsequence, selection for highflavonoid content would be oflittle practical use unlessdarkening is also reduced.

Variation in flavonoid contentA survey of genetic variation forflavonoid content in wheat andwheat relatives continued.Flavonoid content in 225T.tauschii accessions varied from0.075 to 0.57 OD units/g grainweight compared with ranges of0.16 - 0.22 for durums and 0.22 -0.36 for bread wheat ofAustralian, Japanese and USorigin.Within the tauschii set,flavonoid content was stronglycorrelated with grain size.Thiswas not unexpected given reportsin the literature that embryo sizeis related to grain size and theresults of our earlier work thatidentified the germ tissue as thesource of grain flavonoids. For thisreason, flavonoid contents wereconverted to units/g rather thanunits/grain.To this point there hasbeen no evidence of flavonoidsynthesis in the endosperm ofwheat or its relatives. Currentstrategies for increasing flavonoidcontent in flour are thereforebased on increasing the content

in the germ and the assumptionthat a proportion of this increasedcontent will be carried into flour.Further survey work on syntheticwheats is planned before adecision is made regardingutilization of the variationdetected in the tauschi group.

Variation in xanthophyll contentXanthophylls impart a yellow orcreamy colour to flour and flourproducts irrespective of pH. Highxanthophyll content is anadvantage for YAN, but at levelsthat give yellowish flour there aredeleterious effects on the colourof other end-products.Populations derived from sourcesof very high xanthophyll andgenotypes with good noodlecolour stability/low PPO, werescreened in 1998/99. Several lineswere recovered that recombinexanthophyll levels typical ofdurum wheats with low PPO.These lines will be furtherassessed in 1999/2000 and will gointo a back-crossing program torecover all the good noodle-making characteristics andagronomic features of theadapted parent.This novelgermplasm will give very yellowflour and would not be suitablefor pan or steamed bread.Thetarget would be an ingredientwheat/flour, that would allownoodle manufacturers tomanipulate the yellowness ofYAN, or a flour for specialtyproducts where yellow colourmight be an advantage.

Time course of synthesis offlavonoids and xanthophylls indeveloping wheat grainsEar samples were harvested at 5day intervals between floweringand maturity and grain analysedfor xanthophyll content, flavonoidcontent and total phenolics.Flavonoid content, specifically theflavonoids responsible for thealkali-induced component ofyellow colour in YAN, reached a

peak at 30 - 35 days after anthesisand the showed a small declineup to maturity. Levels at maturityin Sunco, for example, wereapproximately 75% of levels at thepeak. By contrast, total phenolicswere already high at the earlieststage examined and declinedsteadily up to maturity. Similarlyxanthophylls (lutein and itsesters) were high at day 20 anddeclined to about 5% of this levelat maturity.These differentpatterns of accumulation anddegradation presumably reflectdifferences in the physiologicalfunction of the particularcompounds and the grain tissueinvolved in synthesis. In the caseof xanthophylls, the amountremaining in the mature grainwas very much a remnant ofcompounds present at the veryearly stages of grain development.

Project 1.1.3/5 - Geneticdissection of flour processingpropertiesProject Leaders:Dr. R.Appels and Dr. I Batey

Background and ObjectivesThe project, in association withthe National Wheat MolecularMarker program, will provide:

■ intellectual property relatingto the identification of DNAmarkers linked to specificstarch functional properties;

■ acceleration of breeding, usingDNA markers, for aspects ofstarch swelling volume (andnoodle quality) which are notaccounted for by the presenceor absence of granule boundstarch synthase (GBSS) onchromosome 4A;

■ new DNA markers, andfunctional quality tests, fordefining starch qualityattributes for Plant BreedersRights and for marketing and

18

■ improvement in theconsistency of supply ofspecific starch qualities inwheat flour through improvedtechnology for definingappropriate wheat lines.

The wheat quality objectivesgroup established by the GRDChas provided key guidelines as toquality attributes that requireparticular attention in Australianwheat breeding. Ranked in thetop five attributes is starchfunctionality and, in particular,there is the constant need toimprove starch viscosity incombination with other qualitytraits. Based on the requirementto provide accurate informationabout the genetic control ofstarch functionality, the projectinitially examined a number ofcrosses to identify ones that weresuitable for more detailedanalyses as well as developingand validating small-scale tests forstarch functionality. As thedoubled haploid lines from theGRDC- National Wheat MolecularMarker program (NWMMP) havestarted to become available, thefocus has turned to this materialas a means of combining theexpertise acquired in the assay ofstarch functionality with adetailed genetic analysis.

ProgressPreliminary studies to establishtechniques and assess the keyvariables of starch functionality The preliminary study of variationin starch properties utilisedprogeny from the crosses:

■ Weaver x Sun234A;■ Sunbri x Sunco and■ Reeves x Kulin

In addition to providing the basisfor validating a number of small-scale starch functionality tests,these studies showed that whilethe presence or absence ofgranule bound starch synthase onchromosome 4A (4A-GBSS) haddramatic effects on starchviscosity, this was clearly only partof the control on starchfunctionality. In the Weaver xSun234A the presence or absenceof the GBSS allele was not avariable (since both parents werenull for the 4A-GBSS) andprogeny lines showed a 2502 to3757 centripoise range in starchviscosity (peak viscosity in RVA).

The availability of a Perkin-Elmerdifferential scanning calorimeter(DSC) provided a new, and verysmall-scale, procedure forassessing the functionalproperties of starch. An extensivestudy of Australian cultivars, aswell as progeny from the crossesnoted above, indicated that onsetof gelatinisation could bemeasured accurately and showed

variation that was independent ofthe presence or absence of the4A-GBSS allele. The data in Table1 shows clearly that the variationin onset of gelatinisationtemperature was significantamong wheat lines, in both the“survey”and Reeves x Kulingroups of lines, whether or notthe GBSS allele on chromosome4A was present.

These results were confirmedwith limited studies of doublenull-GBSS and triple null-GBSS(waxy) lines from projects 1.1.7and 1.1.11. Starch from Japaneselines has also been studied andincluded Kanto 107 (double null)and a waxy triple null linederived form Kanto 107.

Genetic analysis of variation instarch functionalityThe preliminary studies describedabove established technologiesthat could be used to assessstarch functionality. Thesetechnologies include RVAviscosity measurements in thepresence of silver nitrate toinhibit α-amylase activity, andmeasurement of onset ofgelatinisation temperature in DSC.As this preliminary phase wasnearing completion, the materialfrom the doubled haploid lines inthe NWMM program becameavailable (during 1998) and theanalysis of this material hasdominated the project. The firstof the 173 lines derived from the

19

TABLE 1.1 GELATINISATION PROPERTIES OF WHEAT STARCHES

Sample GBSS Onset Temp. (°C) Peak Temp. (°C) End Temp. (°C) Delta-H (J/g)

Survey wheats - 50.9 - 59.2 56.2 - 65.3 61.7 - 72.5 2.8 - 4.1

Survey wheats Null-4A 51.1 - 58.6 56.9 - 65.2 61.7 - 72.5 2.8 - 4.1

Survey wheats Normal-4A 50.9 - 59.2 56.2 - 65.3 61.7 - 71.9 2.8 - 4.1

Reeves X Null-4A 51.2 - 56.2 57.6 - 61.6 62.3 - 67.4 2.9 - 3.8Kulin progeny

Reeves X Normal-4A 51.0 - 56.4 56.5 - 61.8 62.8 - 67.7 2.9 - 3.5Kulin progeny

Cranbrook (contains all threeGBSS alleles) x Halberd (missingthe GBSS allele on chromosome4A) have been extensivelystudied. A total of 5 crosses arebeing targeted for analysis in theNWMM program, for completionby 2002. The flour samples forCD87 x Katepwa and Sunco xTasman (180 samples each) arecoming through this month(June, 1999). Our experience todate suggests that the followingcharacteristics need to beanalysed:

■ RVA (peak/final viscosity);■ starch swelling volume;■ onset of gelation temperature

(DSC);■ grain weight and hardness

(single kernel analyser) and■ characteristics of molecular

size and shape (field flowfractionation).

The data illustrated in Figure 1.1indicates that the first steps inidentifying DNA markers forcharacteristics that define starchcontent and functionality can beachieved in the populationsbeing studied. They illustrate thedepth of analysis of theCranbrook x Halberd cross whichis now nearing completion inpreparation for the analysis of theother crosses coming through theprogram. The compilations belowwere achieved through a closecollaboration within the NWMMprogram, in particular withAngelo Karakousis (thecoordinator of the genetic maps).

DNA markers linked to peak/finalstarch viscosity (RVA measurement)In the Cranbrook x Halberd cross,starch peak viscosity, finalviscosity and swelling volumemap predominantly to the regionof chromosome 4A where the

GBSS in the cross is either presentor absent.The profound effect ofthe presence or absence of theGBSS allele on chromosome 4A isstriking and raises the question asto whether other genes, close tothis GBSS gene, are also missingin the deletion that characterisesAustralian udon noodle qualitywheats.

A consistent trend maps millingyield to the terminal region of theshort arm of chromosome 7A/7D.Other regions of the genomeinfluence this character butinsufficient data are available toclearly assign genetic influencesin the Cranbrook x Halberd cross.

A key finding during the courseof this study was the contrastingresults obtained in the presenceor absence of silver nitrate in theRVA studies, reflecting thecontamination of starchpreparations with α-amylase(from the Cranbrook parent). Thepresence of silver inhibits theaction of α-amylase.

Both Cranbrook and Halberd areclassified as “hard”. It was ofinterest therefore that therelatively small difference indegree of hardness thatsegregates in the cross is clearlycontrolled by the classic Ha locuson 5DS. It seems possible that theHa locus contains a cluster ofgenes that account for differentlevels of hardness in the grain.

20

TABLE 1.3 EFFECT OF COMMERCIAL GLUTENS ON INDIVIDUAL STARCHES FROM THECRANBROOK X HALBERD LINES (measurements in RVA units)

Starch from After addition of aCranbrook x single preparation of DifferenceHalberd progeny commercial gluten

RVA-Peak 249 to 403 228 to 417 -71 to +32

RVA-Trough 141 to 221 114 to 193 -4 to -49

RVA-Final 281 to 459 227 to 403 -10 to -91

FIG 1.2 - DNA Markers linked to peak/final starch viscosity (RVA Measurement)

Variation in flour paste viscositydue to interactions with proteinDuring the course of validatingthe measurements of starchviscosity in the Cranbrook xHalberd derived progeny, theeffect of gluten on starch viscositywas measured. Starch andprotein (gluten) were isolatedfrom 40 lines of the Cranbrook xHalberd population of progeny.Each starch was mixed with acommon gluten (commercialgluten was used for this purpose)and each of the glutens wasseparately mixed with a commonstarch (commercial wheatstarch). The viscosity of pastesfrom these “flours”was measuredin the Rapid Viscoanalyser (RVA).

The gluten had a variable effecton the RVA viscosity of thedifferent starches.The results areshown in Table 1.3. Thecommercial gluten being addedto the different starches caused areduction in peak viscosity withsome starches, but an increasewith others.There was a decreasein the final viscosity with allstarches but there was a largevariation in the size of thisvariation.

The effects of varying the glutencomponent are shown in Table1.4. Similarly, there was asignificant variation in the size ofthe change in viscosity. Aninteresting suggestion from thedata was that the size of thevariation may be dependent onthe HMW glutenin sub-unitcomposition; this needs further

study. The results of this analysisshould assist in defining theinfluence of protein on flourqualities targeting products suchas udon noodles.

Project 1.1.4 - Genetic factorsaffecting Udon noodle qualityProject Leader: Dr. P. Sharp

Background and ObjectivesThis report summarizes the mainpoints of three years ofpostgraduate research aimed atidentifying genetic factors thataffect white salted or Udonnoodle quality. Secondaryobjectives were the developmentof novel methods for discoveringmicrosatellite (SSR) markers andthe cloning of the structuralgenes for polyphenol oxidase(PPO), an important class ofenzyme implicated indiscolouration of all classes ofnoodles.

ProgressAustralian Standard White (andthe noodle segregation of thisclass) is the preferred source offlour for Udon noodle productionin Asian countries, a preferencethat is largely conferred by thehighly desirable pastingproperties of this flour.Theseproperties result from a well-characterized null mutation at thewaxy locus located onchromosome 4A, which encodesone of the proteins involved inamylose synthesis. However,significant variation in noodle-making quality exists between

wheats that are fixed for thismutation, indicating that there arealso other important geneticfactors. In this work, several ofthese genes were identified byanalysis of an F2 mappingpopulation derived from a crossbetween the null 4A wheatcultivars Halberd and Stiletto.Using candidate gene andQuantitative Trait Loci (QTL)mapping strategies, chromosomalregions explaining approximately50% of the phenotypic variationassociated with flour swellingpower were identified.This trait ishighly correlated with the threeimportant noodle texturalparameters: elasticity, smoothnessand softness, the latter of which isthe most reliably predicted.Thecloning of PPO genes wasunsuccessful because oftechnical problems with theprobes used.

Traditional approaches fordeveloping microsatellite (SSR)markers are time-consuming andexpensive. Consequently,considerable effort was devotedto the development of a novelmethod that enables discovery ofSSR markers without the priorrequirement of DNA sequenceinformation.The methoddeveloped allows the rapidgeneration of a virtually unlimitedsupply of markers, whoseusefulness and chromosomallocation can be determined priorto the design of sequence-specificPolymerase Chain Reaction(PCR) primers.The utility of thismethod was demonstrated with

21

TABLE 1.4 EFFECT OF ISOLATED GLUTEN (FROM CRANBROOK X HALBERD LINES) ON A SINGLE COMMERCIAL STARCH (measurements in RVA units)

A single After addition of thecommercial gluten from Cranbrook Differencestarch x Halberd progeny

RVA-Peak 237 256 to 329 19 to 92

RVA-Trough 155 155 to 188 0 to 33

RVA-Final 306 312 to 358 6 to 52

the genetic mapping of 72random SSR markers, 18 of whichwere converted to locus-specificSSRs. In addition, the method wasemployed as a strategy for rapiddiscovery of chromosome-specific SSRs, six of which wereconverted to specific PCRmarkers.While several technicalaspects of the method requirefurther development, thistechnique offers a usefulalternative to traditionalapproaches for SSR markerdevelopment.

Project 1.1.6 - Developmentand application of newantibody probes for mappingand selection of wheatphenotypesProject Leader: Dr. J. Skerritt

Background and ObjectivesThe main aim of the project wasto establish a library of antibodiesthat can distinguish the severalloci on each chromosome armand to develop rapid and simpleassays to target specific quality

and other attributes in wheat.Toachieve the targets, the water-andsalt-soluble proteins weremapped on chromosomes andmonoclonal antibodies to theseproteins were raised.

ProgressThe chromosomal control ofwater and salt-soluble proteinsestablished in previous years wasconfirmed by analysing somegenetic lines on two dimensionalelectrophoresis at two differentisoelectric point (pI) ranges.Additionally, the proteins whicheluted in high performance liquidchromatography (HPLC) fractionswere collected and analysed bySDS-gel electrophoresis andseveral proteins which wereseparated by different techniqueswere correlated. In this way, aprecise map of water-solubleproteins has been produced.Some proteins purified by HPLCwere characterised by N-terminalamino acid sequencing in orderto establish the identity of non-gluten proteins.

A polymorphic water-solubleprotein (pI 7.1) mapping to theshort arm of chromosome 3B hasbeen further analysed byscreening 172 lines of Halberd xCranbrook population byisoelectric focusing. It has beenconfirmed that this protein ispresent on chromosome 3BS.Theanalysis of another populationobtained from a Synthetic xOpata cross is underway in orderto find out the precise locationsand map distances of genescontrolling this protein on thechromosome.

The library of monoclonalantibodies to water-and salt-soluble proteins developed lastyear has been screened for thespecificity of antibodies to non-gluten proteins. Many cell lineswere screened in immunoblots,and lines showing narrow

specificity have been subcloned.The most specific cell lines havebeen used for ascitesdevelopment for producingantibodies with higherconcentrations.Ten antibodieswere purified and used inimmunoaffinity procedures.

The antibodies to lysine richproteins were used to map thegenes controlling these proteinson wheat chromosomes. Geneticcontrol of lysine rich proteinswas found to be on chromosomegroups 2, 3, 5 and 7.This project is now completed.

Project 1.1.7 - Developmentand evaluation of waxy wheatProject Leader: Dr. P. Sharp

Background and ObjectivesThe amylose content of wheatgrain is an important determinantof the quality of wheat flour andis largely determined by theamount of the “waxy”protein, orgranule-bound starch synthase(GBSS), expressed in theendosperm.The waxy protein inbread wheat is controlled by nullalleles of three waxy genes.Introducing the null allele fromthe three genes into one line willresults in wheat with amylose-free(waxy) wheat, which is attractivefor certain industries, such asnoodle and biscuitmanufacturers. DNA markers arenow widely used for differentpurposes, including marker-assisted selection in breedingprograms.We have constructed abreeding program utilisingmarker-assisted selection toproduce waxy wheat cultivars. Inthis program, DNA markers arebeing developed and used forintrogression of waxy genes froma donor line into commercialcultivars.A marker-assistedselection approach is also beingused for the selection of therecurrent parent genotype, in

22

FIG 1.5 - Effect of the allelic constitution at Glu-B3 and Wx-A1 onflour swelling power (FSP) in the Halberd x Stilleto mappingpopulation.

Shown is the average FSP over four sites for F2 progeny grouped by theirallelic constitution at Glu-B3 and Wx-A1.The central black dot representsthe median and the grey rectangle the 95% confidence interval of themedian.Allele effects were significant at the 0.001 significance level andexplained 22.8% and 12.6% of the total phenotypic variation, respectively.

HH HS SS

Glu-B3

HH HS SS

Wx-A1

11.0

Flo

ur S

wel

ling

Pow

er

10.5

10.0

order to reduce the number ofbackcross generations.

ProgressBreeding and marker-assistedselection in backcross materialsThird generation backcrossprogeny (BC3) seeds resultingfrom crosses of DHWx-12 (thedonor of the waxy genes) withfour different recurrent parents,namely Goldmark, Janz, NP150and Silverstar, have been sown forthe winter generation.These BC3seeds are carriers of the nullallele of the three waxy genes.DNA markers developed in theprogram, including amicrosatellite within one of thewaxy genes, enables these genesto be detected. In addition, duringthe backcross generations, amarker-assisted approach wasused to select for concurrentmaintenance of the backgroundgenetics of the recurrent parents.A total of 15-20 microsatelliteswere used in each generation toselect for recurrent parentgenotype, and 2-4 families wereselected from each of the 4crosses.These seeds are beinggrown for doubled-haploid (DH)production of waxy seeds andpossibly for further backcrossing.From each family, 5-40 seeds havebeen sown and are in seedlingstage.

Winter increase of doubled-haploidseeds of waxy-NP150A small number (15) of doubled-haploid seeds of waxy NP150derivatives was sown for winterincrease of the lines.These lineswere produced over the summer,from second-generationbackcross (BC2) plants of DHWx-12 X NP150, using the wheat Xmaize DH production system.

Breeding waxy Janz linesAbout 2000 waxy lines belongingto 50 F4 (4th generation) familiesfrom a cross between a waxygenotype and the cultivar Janz,

were sown in the field at Narrabrifor further selection ofmorphological, agronomic andquality characters.These lineswere selected to resemble Janzfor seed coat colour, rustresistance (especially Sr24/Lr24),and for morphological andphenological traits. Selection forthese characteristics was doneunder microclimate conditions inthe F2 and F4 generations, and infield conditions in the F3generation.

Production of waxy grain fortestingThe 1998 harvest produced a onetonne grain sample of a waxygenotype, as well as kilogramamounts of three other waxygenotypes.These were supplied(some after milling) to the CRCcommercial partners forevaluation.A workshop reportingthe results of this testing providedvaluable information to guide thebreeding program.

Future workWe plan to examine lines derivedfrom a different cross, CD87 andKatepwa, starting in June 1999.CD87 and Katepwa are two lineswith the same 4A-GBSS alleles, soany variation in viscosity willresult from other differences.

Project 1.1.8 - Developmentand application of wheatmicrosatellite markersProject Leader: Dr. P. Sharp

Background and ObjectivesDNA markers are becomingcritical tools in breeding wheatfor many different purposesincluding construction of genomemaps, parentage testing, varietyidentification and to aid selectionin breeding programs.Microsatellites are at present themost attractive markers, becauseof hyper-variability, abundanceand even distribution throughoutthe genome, and easy detectionwith Polymerase Chain reaction(PCR) techniques. Microsatellitesare being progressively developedworldwide.The objective of thisprogram is to evaluatemicrosatellite markers inAustralian wheats and to utilisethem as DNA markers for qualitytraits in breeding programs,genome mapping and varietyidentification.

23

FIG 1.6 - Staining with iodine solution reveals the cut surface ofnormal starch wheat grains stained dark blue-black while waxystarch grains stain light tan in colour.

ProgressEvaluation of polymorphism ofmicrosatellites

GRDC parental linesIn collaboration with the GRDCNational Wheat Molecular MarkerProgram (NWMMP) the 12 GRDCparental lines are being evaluatedfor microsatellite polymorphisms.This program is to identifypolymorphic markers in themapping populations in order toconstruct genetic linkage mapsfrom the doubled haploidprogeny. In cooperation with theInternational Wheat MicrosatelliteConsortium (WMC) a total of 353primers obtained from theconsortium was divided amongstthree groups, namely University ofSydney, Southern Cross Universityand CSIRO Plant Industry. Eachgroup was allocated about 118primers which were tested on theGRDC parental lines. In addition,64 primers from the WMS set of

Roder et al (1998) were alsotested on the GRDC parentallines.The level of polymorphismwas 37% for WMC primers and70% for WMS primers.Thedifferent level of polymorphismobserved is because the WMSprimers were already screenedand only polymorphic ones werereported in the literature. Incontrast, the whole group of WMCprimers (without any pre-selection) was scored for the firsttime and therefore a lower levelof polymorphism was to beexpected.

Waxy parental linesA total of 334 primers wasevaluated on the 5 waxy parentallines of project 1.1.7.The aim ofthis evaluation was to search formarkers linked to the waxy genesand to find polymorphic markersfor selection of recurrent parentbackground in the waxy breedingprogram of project 1.1.7.

The level of polymorphism in thewaxy breeding materials wasabout 13% for the WMC primersand 56% for the WMS primers.Thelevel of polymorphism in thispopulation was much less thanthat observed in the GRDC lines.This can be explained with thesmaller number (5) of waxybreeding lines coupled with thefact that Goldmark and Silverstarhave the same parents, comparedwith the larger number (12) ofGRDC parental lines. Nevertheless

there is a sufficient number ofpolymorphic markers forselection of background geneticsin the waxy breeding material,and this is being implementedduring the backcross generations,as reported in program 1.1.7.

In search for possible linkedmarkers, the primers were alsotested on two F2 populations, fromcrosses of DHWx12 X Janz and ofDHWx12 X NP150, and were fixedfor the null alleles of all threewaxy loci. None of these markerswere found to link to the waxygenes.Therefore, the waxymicrosatellite already developedin this program is still the onlymarker known to be linked to thewaxy genes.

Wheat variety identificationIn this project, in collaborationwith three other Australian groupsin a GRDC wheat varietyidentification project, 4microsatellite markers wereevaluated on 32 selectedcultivars.The joint results wereevaluated for the quality of PCRproducts and for the level ofpolymorphism. From this, 4microsatellite markers wereselected for scoring on 95Australian cultivars.Thisexperiment is in progress and theresults will be analysed to decideon a final small number ofmicrosatellites suitable for cultivaridentification.

24

Fig 1.7 - A multiplex PCR using two sets of WMC primers.

Samples analysed are (left to right), Cranbrook, Egret, a Waxy line, Goldmark,Janz, NP-150, Silverstar, Halberd, Stiletto, Opata85, and Synthetic.

WMC18

Fig 1.8 - Polymorphism at a microsatelite locus in 32 wheatcultivars

WMC9

Project 1.1.9 - Marker assistedselection for sproutingtolerance and late maturity αα-Amylase (LMAA)Project Leader: Dr. M-K.Tan

Background and ObjectivesThe major source of sproutingtolerance used in Australianbreeding programs,AUS1408,shows a consistent level of graindormancy at harvest-ripenesswhich is useful in practice.Thedormancy in this genotype iscontrolled by two recessive geneslocated on chromosome 3D. Oneof these genes is associated withembryo-sensitivity to abscisic acid(ABA), the other with a seed coatfactor that is effective only in thepresence of embryo sensitivity.Apopulation derived fromJanz/AUS1408 was treated withABA to develop a sub-populationthat was homozygous for theembryo sensitivity gene but stillsegregating for the seed coatgene. Subsequent progeny testingof the individual lines enabledthe seed coat genotype to bedetermined.This material is beingused to develop molecularmarkers for the seed coat factor.Afew breeding lines and anotherJanz/AUS1408 population whichis thought to come from lines thatare heterozygous for the seedcoat factor were also used in thiswork.The second populationshowed a range in dormancyphenotype from dormant to non-dormant.

ProgressInitial studies utilizing somechromosome 3-specific probes forrestriction fragment lengthpolymorphism (RFLP) analysisrevealed no polymorphismbetween the parents, Janz andAUS 1408. Similarly, amplificationof flanking regions for the R-genes, followed by restrictionanalysis did not uncover anylength polymorphism betweenthe parents.The primers for the

flanking regions of the R-geneshad been developed at the JohnInnes Institute, UK.

A total of eight group 3microsatellite markers were foundto be polymorphic forJanz/AUS1408. Of these, four werechromosome 3DL-specific andwere found to be particularlyuseful for correlation of themolecular data with thedormancy phenotype. Onemarker was found to be linked tothe gene associated with embryosensitivity to ABA. Results fromthe 2 populations suggested thatanother microsatellite, 314 hassome linkage to the gene for theseed coat factor.This linkage wasweakened by the fact that thesecond population used todeduce the relationship washeterozygous for this gene. It wasthus hypothesized that thislinkage will be significantlystrengthened if populations thatare homozygous for the seed coatgene are used. Results from four

non-dormant families thatsegregate for the four markersshowed that this second locus islinked to the seed coat factorgene. It would be necessary tohave dormant lines that arehomozygous for the seed coatgene and segregate for the fourmarkers to establish clearly theother side of the linkage.

The second marker is in thevicinity of the seed coat locuswith the first marker at 44.6centimorgan (cM) from thecentromere. Hence, the seed coatgene is estimated to be more than44.6 cM from the centromere.Thefirst locus appears to be morethan 10 cM from the centromere.Estimates of recombinationfrequency and conversion to mapunits could be made to estimatethe approximate location of theembryo sensitivity gene and theseed coat factor gene.The lociwill be mapped more precisely asmore data become available.

25

Fig 1.9 - Electrophoresis of microsatellite marker fragments on a12% non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel.

The marker fragments for Opata 85 and W7984 are 182bp and 171 bprespectively. Molecular size markers were in lane 1; parents, Janz (2X) andAUS1408 were in lanes 2, 13 and 3 respectively; breeding lines, SUN 325B,SUN 325C, SUN 325F, QT7475 and SA1166 were in lanes 4-8; progeny lines2.1 to 2.4 were in lanes 9-12, progeny lines 2.5 to 2.10 were in lanes 14-19;and progeny lines 9.1 to 9.3 were in lanes 20-25.

Project 1.1.10 - Breeding softwheats of Northern AustraliaProject Leader: Dr. L. O’Brien

Background and ObjectivesNew rust resistant soft wheats arebeing developed for the northernregion to provide a supply of softwheat in the same region asmilling and biscuit productionand to improve its reliability byhaving production in northernand southern regions.

ProgressCommercialisation of a new softwheat for the northern region isimminent, bringing this project tosuccessful fruition within thelifetime of the CRC.

Testing in the 1998 season,resulted in the identification of anumber of rust resistant breedinglines with high yield potentialacross an area from northernVictoria to the Queenslandborder.

Quality testing of these lines byindustry partners indicated thatthey had the desired low proteincontent, flour water absorptionand weak dough characteristicsneeded for use in soft biscuitproduction.

Biscuit test baking conducted byArnotts Biscuits confirmed thatthe test-bake performance of alllines was superior to the currentcommercial flour used by theCompany.All lines yielded betterpacket length, baked doughweight and biscuit hardnessparameters, compared with thecommercial flour.

Seed from large scale productionblocks of some of the best lineswas commercially milled byGoodman Fielder and used infactory scale evaluations.All linestested gave satisfactoryperformance.

The best lines are in seedproduction with a view tocommercialisation early in 2000-2001.

Project 1.1.11 - Geneticvariants for soft wheat qualityProject Leader: Dr. L. O’Brien

Background and ObjectivesFlour chlorination is widely usedin the production of cake flours,and chemical dough conditionersare used in biscuit production.Increasing consumer concernover such treatments meansalternative strategies need to bepursued.

Through this project we aim touse genetic variation at the highand low molecular weightglutenin loci and the waxy locusto develop novel breeding lines.Suitable characteristicsdeveloped could improveprocessing quality of soft wheatcultivars for biscuit and cakemanufacture without the need fordough conditioners, flourtreatment or additives.

ProgressThis project is approaching thestage where the hypotheses thataltering protein and starchcomposition can be used asreplacements for the use of flourchlorination and doughconditioners may be tested.

Doubled haploid populations oflines varying in proteincomposition will be increasedduring the 1999 season.

Lines varying in starch quality viagenetic variation at the granulebound starch synthase loci arenow available in sufficientquantity for evaluation bycommercial partners of the CRC.

Project 1.1.12 - Soft wheatbreeding for South EasternAustraliaProject Leader:Dr. L. O’Brien / H.Allen

Background and ObjectivesThrough this project we aim toincrease soft wheat breedingactivity on quality testing of softwheat lines and to facilitatecollaboration with the existingCRC soft wheat breeding project,so as to release suitable new softwheat varieties.

The Wheat Improvement programat Wagga Wagga released Snipe, anew biscuit wheat in 1997. Snipewas commercially grown in 1998,and has very good biscuit bakingquality, however, in 1998 it had ahigh level of blackpoint.Blackpoint was particularly highin any susceptible varietiesbecause of the moist conditionsin 1998.

Lines for release 1999 include twolines evaluated in the last 12months. These were M5635(LR_21, SRX/3*M3087), andBowie, a South Australia bredvariety.

26

M5635 has very good grainquality, high flour extraction, highstarch paste viscosity, very goodextensibility and good biscuitbaking quality.

Bowie is a suitable biscuit qualitywheat as a replacement forTatiara, even though Bowie isslightly stronger in doughstrength.

ProgressLate generationStage 3 biscuit trials currentlybeing quality tested are WW2536,WW2436,WW2433, DH3358 andDH3506. VH302 has similarquality and yield to Wyuna butbetter stripe and leaf rustresistance. In testing the doughstrength of VH302 is stronger thanother biscuit lines.The other linesare being tested by WWAI.

Early GenerationA new Stage 1 early generationbiscuit trial conducted in 1998,included only potential biscuitquality soft wheat.These lineswere yield tested and screenedfor disease resistance, and somepreliminary quality analysis wasconducted. Lines were subjectedto the normal set of qualityevaluation tests, including flouryield, grain tests, and physicaldough parameters using theprobe test for dough strength andextensibility. Only lines with softgrain and weak dough strengthwere promoted into the moreadvanced trials for evaluation.Aseries of doubled haploid lineshave been tested in the earlygeneration trials and the bestquality lines from this materialwill be promoted into the Stage 3trials in 1999/2000. Lines for aspecial Stage 1 biscuit trial wasgrown in 1998 and these lines arenow being processed through thequality laboratory. Somepromising Triller selections withimproved quality were rejectedbecause of the breakdown ofrust resistance, gene Lr 26.

ResearchTo improve testing for biscuitbaking quality at an early stage inthe breeding program researchhas been conducted using theprobe test.The test measuresdough strength and gives anindication of extensibility. Inaddition, research will beconducted to improve all smallscale tests to identify high biscuitquality early in the program.

A laboratory assistant wasappointed in 1998 to assist withquality evaluation and some fieldwork.

Project 1.1.13 - Hybrid WheatProject Leader: Dr. D. Bonnett

Background and ObjectivesHybrids offer an effective meansof intellectual property protectionand of increasing grain yield.Sunprime R&D, of which theUniversity of Sydney is half owner,operates a commercial hybridwheat program. Its hybrids offeryield advantages of around 10%over the best conventionalvarieties. The parents of thesehybrids are agronomicallyadapted lines with good hybridproduction characteristics intowhich novel quality traitsidentified by the CRC could beintrogressed for commercialexploitation.

The commercial hybrids areproduced using the Triticumtimopheevi cytoplasmic malesterility system, a system requiringa cytoplasmic male sterile line, amaintainer for the sterile line anda restorer line carrying 2 to 3genes for fertility. Breedingrestorer lines is inefficient due tothe difficulty of selecting forfertility restoration. RFLP markersfor some of the fertility restorationgenes likely to be present in theSunprime hybrids have beenidentified (in overseaslaboratories) and could simplifythe development of restorer lineswith novel quality traits.The T.Timopheevi system is notamenable to the production oflarge numbers of new hybridcombinations due to the need tobreed male sterile and restorerlines for each combination.Theproduction of large numbers ofcombinations is important inidentification of such heteroticgroups. Effective pollen killingchemicals (gametocides) whichallow efficient production oflarge numbers of new hybridshave been developed by anumber of private companies (egMonsanto and Du Pont).The CRChas negotiated access to theMonsanto gametocide for use inthe identification of heteroticgroups.

27

These groups would be targets forthe introgression ofcharacteristics constituting CRCintellectual property forcommercialisation.

ProgressIdentification of Heterotic Groups.Hybrid production blocks havebeen planted.These will result inthe production of hybridsbetween existing parental linesfrom the hybrid program,representative cultivars frommajor Australian hard and softwheat families and elite CIMMYTmaterial.

Development of MolecularMarkers.Genetic populations segregatingfor fertility have been planted atCobbitty for assessment of fertilityand DNA extraction. F3 SSDpopulations have been planted atNarrabri for development ofrecombinant inbred lines.

Introgression of Novel QualityTraits into Potential HeteroticGroupsCrossing blocks have beenplanted at Narrabri to initiateintrogression of novel qualitytraits into potential heteroticgroups.

MAJOR RESEARCHMILESTONES ACHIEVED INPROGRAM 1■ Identification of exciting new

sources of low B-granulecontent in breed wheat and agreater understanding of thegenetic basis of this character.

■ Progress towardunderstanding the moleculargenetic basis of B-granulecontent and the developmentof Australian cultivars withlower B-granule content.

■ Analysis of changes inflavonoid content in rawyellow alkaline noodles withtime.The major componentsof yellow colour (the apigenindiglycosides) were shown tobe relatively stable duringstorage of noodles and notoxidized by polyphenoloxidase.

■ Survey of wild relatives forflavonoid content.Variation inT.tauschii appeared to exceedthe range present in durumwheat and bread wheats.

■ Determination of time courseof synthesis of flavonoids indeveloping wheat grains.Flavonoid content reached apeak at 30-35 days afteranthesis and then declined.This pattern contrasted withtotal phenolics andxanthophylls that were high inthe early stages of graindevelopment and thendecreased steadily untilmaturity.

■ New albumins which arepolymorphic in bread wheathave been identified.Apolymorphic water solubleprotein has been mapped tochromosome 3BS.

■ Identification of chromosomalregions controlling flourswelling power related toudon noodle quality and arange of other starch qualitytraits.

■ Assessment of the utility of 250microsatellite marker primersprovided by Agrogene(France) and the mapping ofthose polymorphic in localcultivars.

■ Development of a novelmethod for the detection ofmicrosatellite markers inwheat.

■ Demonstration that twomicrosatellite markers arelinked to the embryosensitivity gene and the seedcoat factor gene, respectively,of the dormancy trait in AUS1408.

■ Identification and industryassessment of severalpromising new lines of softwheat adapted to bothnorthern and southernAustralia.

28

Consistency of grain quality isan ongoing requirement of

the wheat-marketing andprocessing industries of Australia.This is matched by the need forthe wheat-growing sector of theindustry to achieve quality-relatedpremiums. For the requirements ofall these sectors, more informationis needed about how growthconditions affect specific aspects ofgrain quality, and thus how targetedquality attributes may be achieved.

In practice, the combination ofvarietal identity, protein contentand grain soundness provides areasonable guide to processingquality, different combinations ofthese being appropriate to thevarious marketing andmanufacturing specifications. Butthere still remain unexpected andunexplained fluctuations in quality,the causes for which we need tounderstand.

As a result of Program 2 projectssignificant successes are now beingachieved in elucidating some of thecauses of quality fluctuations. Moreimportantly, solutions are beingdeveloped to provide tools withwhich growers can increase theiropportunities for premium returns,and processors may have betterassurance that quality specificationsare met when they buy.

These advances include theprovision of on-farm testing forsprout damage (enabling damagedgrain to be excluded duringharvesting), the demonstration ofsuccess with farm managementstrategies to achieve premium-attracting levels of protein content,improved storage methods(providing stability of dough-processing properties), andelucidation of the results ofblending wheats that differ indough quality.

These research advances arematched, in Program 2, by trainingand quality-assurance programs toensure these and other newknowledge in grain production areapplied in practice.

Program ObjectivesResearch is being conducted atall stages of the growing andstoring of wheat to elucidate thecauses of grain-quality variations,and thus to develop appropriatestrategies to achieve improvedoutcomes for both growers andprocessors.

The quality implications ofenvironmental temperature andmoisture are being evaluatedthroughout the continuum ofgrowth, harvesting and storage,with novel management strategiesbeing developed to improve grainquality.

At sowing, choice of variety is amajor determinant of qualityoutcome, both due to intrinsicquality attributes and tolerance toenvironmental factors. For thisreason, current wheats are beingstudied for their quality attributesin diverse environments (both inthe field throughout the wheatbelt, and under controlledconditions). In association withbreeders and geneticists inProgram 1, we are pursuing theaim of conferring better toleranceto environmental effects.

Through our training program,including development of asystem of quality assurance suitedto Australian wheat farming,effective use of quality-directedstrategies is being pursued.

Project 2.1.1 - Proteincomposition during grainfilling and post-harvest storageProject Leader: Dr Ferenc Békés

Background and ObjectivesThe structure of the major storageprotein, glutenin, is the mostimportant factor in determiningdough strength. The functionalproperties of this importantcomponent of gluten aredetermined by the compositionof its polypeptides (largely a partof its genetic constitution) andthe manner by which they arelinked together by disulphidebonds. More extensive cross-linking produces larger gluteninpolymers, and thus greater doughstrength. This process beginsfollowing protein synthesis in thedeveloping grain. Much of theprocess is completed by maturity,but it can continue duringstorage, depending on conditions.

The aim of this project is toelucidate the changes that occurin grain proteins throughout grainfilling and post-harvest storage.For a clear understanding of thedynamics of glutenin structureand function, an integratedapproach is required. The projectthus includes monitoring theformation of the key proteincomponents during graindevelopment, combined withinvestigation of changes duringpost-harvest storage.

ProgressThe accumulation of the majorclasses of wheat endospermproteins has been studied, inrelation to grain growth, celldivision and cell enlargement,and gene transcription andaccumulation of mRNA.Microscopy has proven to be auseful tool in defining the stagesof development, as well asproviding new insights into themanner in which the glutenproteins are laid down in thedeveloping grain (Figure 2.1).

PROGRAM 2: GROWING AND STORING QUALITY WHEATProgram Manager: Dr Bob CracknellDeputy: Dr Colin Wrigley

Bob CracknellProgram Manager

PROGRAM 2 OBJECTIVES

Research conducted at

all stages of the

growing and storing of

wheat to elucidate the

causes of grain-quality

variations.

Implications of

environmental

conditions evaluated

throughout the

continuum of growth,

harvesting and storage.

Current wheats studied

for their quality

attributes in diverse

environments.

Effective use of quality

directed strategies.

29

We found that RNA transcription,for the proteins involved in glutenformation, is initiated at differenttimes depending on which wheatcultivar is under study. Forexample, major expression of theHMW glutenin subunits is notachieved until 15 days afterflowering in the variety Wyuna,whereas significant expression isobserved from 8 days for aGabo/Olympic cross.Nevertheless, the number of daysafter flowering is not proving tobe so reliable a guide to the stage

of development as is the size ofthe developing grain, accordingto microscopic studies. Using thisapproach to stage determination,we are identifying the earlieststages at which protein bodiesand starch grains are firstobserved during grain formation.

Storage experiments involving 72-kilogram quantities of grain havecontinued in the laboratory, usingconditions that simulate those inaerated and in non-aeratedstorages at country stations. Grainin storage has been adjusted totemperatures reflecting those ‘inthe field’, namely maintenance ofa temperature for control grain of27º C, and simulation of aeratedstorage by gradually reducing thistemperature to 23º C over 70 days;additional control samples arestored at the constanttemperatures of 4º C, 23º C , and40º C.

The ongoing aim of thelaboratory studies will be todevelop a quantitative model todescribe (and predict) qualitychanges, based on temperatureand moisture data, alsoconsidering variations due tovariety.As a result of the successesof the laboratory-scalesimulations, pilot-scale storagehas commenced in paired silos atNarromine. The details of theseexperiments are provided later inthis report in Project 2.1.6.

Project 2.1.2 - Improvedconsistency and continuity ofsupply for marketsProject Leader: Helen Allen

Background and Objectives The achievement of quality-related premiums is an importantgoal for growers in regions of thewheat belt where premiumpayments are not traditionallyavailable. It has thus been theoverall aim of this project to

develop farm-managementsystems that would assist in theproduction of premium-attractingwheats. The main focuses havebeen the production of PrimeHard wheat in southern Australia,and a range of premium grades inWestern Australia.

Additional aims have been thedevelopment of tests for the pre-harvest prediction of final-grainprotein composition, andelucidation of the range of factorsaffecting wheat quality and yield.

Expected outcomes are increasedareas of production of premium-attracting wheats, increasedprotein levels for Australian wheatproduction, and better diagnosticand management systems toachieve improved consistencyand continuity of supply of grainthat meets specific quality targets.

Progress Analyses on all grain samplesfrom the three years of trials inthe ‘Prime Hard in the South’project have been completed.The results showed overall thatwhen quality is assessed at thesame grain-protein content, grainquality and dough made fromgrain produced in areas to thesouth of the current Prime Hardzone, were similar to that fromgrain grown in the traditionalnorthern areas. The growing ofAustralian Prime Hard wheat isthus not only achieved as a resultof dry seasons, but it can bemanaged and grown on a regularbasis.There are risks withunpredictable dry springs, but therisks can be minimised, byadopting a staged decision-making approach to growinghigh-yielding, high-protein wheat.

On a commercial scale, theresearch has already proved itssuccess. An initial segregationoperated at five sites in the1997/98 season; this resulted in

30

Fig 2.1 - Microscopic examination of gluten proteins

the segregation of some 33,000tonnes of Prime Hard wheatwhich was successfully marketedto south east Asia, as an integralpart of the national Prime Hardpool.The segregation was furtherexpanded in 1998/99 but due tounfavourable seasonalconditions, deliveries were muchreduced. However, some goodquality grain was received and forthe first time, this wheat wasincluded in the annual cropquality presentation to Japanesebuyers.

As a result of the experimentaland commercial trials in southernNSW, a handbook (Fig 2.2) hasbeen prepared recommendingagricultural practices to achievePrime Hard quality. Thehandbook was launched at afarmers meeting in July, 1999.Growing commercial Prime Hardwheat in southern Australiarequires intensive managementand a large input of nitrogen,either from high soil fertility orfertiliser. Because of theresources required, a good risk

strategy is to manage only a smallproportion of wheat on a farm forPrime Hard production. Asuggested strategy is first to targetthe most fertile paddocks toproduce Australian premiumwhite or Australian Hard wheat,and then to top-dress withadditional nitrogen fertiliser toproduce Prime Hard wheat if theseasonal conditions, cropcondition and price premiumsare all suitable.

Project 2.1.3 - On-farmdiagnostics for maximisinggrower returnsProject Leader: John Skerritt

Background and Objectives Rain at harvest presents the riskthat wheat grain will bedowngraded due to thedevelopment of excessive alpha-amylase in the grain, despite theabsence of obvious signs ofsprouting. If this damaged graincould be readily identified priorto harvest, it would be possible toharvest the sound grain withoutinadvertently including sproutedgrain and thus downgrading therest of the crop.

With the aim of providing for thissituation, a simple test card (theWheatRite kit) has been devisedto permit amylase to bequantified under field conditions.In parallel with the commercialdevelopment of the test kit, it hasbeen necessary to devisestrategies for its effective use, aswell as providing for consumerevaluation and training andpublicity activities to ensure itsacceptance.

Further diagnostics are beingdeveloped to improve on-farmmanagement of grain quality. Thenext is a procedure for the rapiddetermination of grain proteincontent. This will allow growersto maximise opportunities forpremium returns by arranging a

harvest strategy to utilisevariations in protein contentacross the paddock.

ProgressThe WheatRite test card has beenevaluated successfully indemonstrations with many groupsof potential users, particularlywheat growers and silo operators.The precision of the test card wasshown to be as good as theFalling Number test (the standardlaboratory procedure forevaluation of sprouting). Fieldtrials, conducted during the1998/99 harvest, showed that theextent of pre-harvest sproutingafter rainfall varies markedlybetween and within fields.Farmers, who tested grain fromdifferent fields or areas beforematurity, could harvest damagedgrain separately from sound grain,thus minimising financial lossesthat would have resulted withoutthis form of segregation.Asampling system has beenestablished to assist in developingsuch a strategy. As well as beingsuited for rapid screening on-farmprior to harvest, the test kit isproving valuable for testing whengrain is received at a mill or grainelevator, and also as a rapidlaboratory test.

The test card (Fig 2.3) has beendemonstrated at Australianconferences and at aninternational Cereal ChemistryConference in Spain.Collaborative evaluation forEuropean potential, undertakenin Sweden, has indicated thegeneral suitability of the testsystem for Europeanrequirements, which may alsorequire greater sensitivity todetect much lower levels ofsprout damage than thosenormally encountered inAustralia. The effectiveness of thetest for barley grain has beendemonstrated, further extendingits potential.

31

Fig 2.2 - The growers manual onfarm management practice toachieve premium targets waslaunched at the GRDC TemoraExpo on July 19th and atCondobolin Expo on July 23rd,1999.

Fig 2.3 - The WheatRite test card, developed to determine thedegree of rain damage to wheat, on-farm prior to harvest or atthe silo on delivery.

The test involves shaking coarsely ground grain with buffer solution, andplacing two drops of this extract onto the upper pink pad. A drop ofanother solution (supplied in the kit) is added to the lower porous pad(white), and the card is closed. This brings the two pads into contact,allowing the test sample to flow up to contact the antibody-impregnatedreaction lines, which develop colour in proportion to the concentration ofα-amylase in the extract.The colour intensity can be related to FallingNumber by visual comparison between test and reference lines or by usinga portable reader device.

Project 2.1.4 - Reducing thedough-weakening effect ofheat stressProject Leader: Colin Wrigley

Background and ObjectivesVariation in growing conditions isthe main source of inconsistencyof grain quality about which westill have only a sketchyunderstanding. Improvedstrategies of farm management,such as those being developed inthe Project 2.1.2, are helping toachieve quality targets, but otheraspects, particularly temperaturefluctuations, cannot becontrolled.

In particular, a few very hot daysduring grain-filling can causereduced starch synthesis, higherprotein content, and adeterioration of protein quality,

resulting in poor dough quality.Systematic evaluation of manywheat lines has led to theidentification of some Australianwheats that are reasonablytolerant to this dough-weakeningeffect. A promising strategy toprovide for more consistent grainquality is to assist wheat breedersin selecting heat-tolerant varieties.To this end, we are developingmolecular markers, for use inbreeding for heat tolerance. Anunderstanding is developing ofthe changes in proteincomposition that accompanyheat stress, providing a basis foruse in selecting tolerant varieties.

ProgressWheat responds best to muchlower temperatures (15-20º Cdaily maxima) than are generallyexperienced in the Australianwheat belt during grain filling(October to December), with thelikelihood of furthercomplications in the field due toshort periods of heat shock (e.g.>32º C). To simulatecombinations of these moremoderate and extremeconditions, wheat was grown incontrolled-environment facilitiesat each of several settemperatures throughout grainfilling, namely, at daily maxima of18º, 21º, 24º, 27º and 30º C. Inaddition, plants otherwisemaintained at 21º C weresubjected to one of ten heat-shock treatments, each beingapproximately equivalent in termsof heat load, ranging from longerperiods at only moderately hightemperatures (e.g. 7 days at 27º C)to shorter periods at considerablyhigher temperatures (e.g. 3 days at39º C). Kernel weights atmaturity (an indicator of grainyield) were progressively lowerwith increasing temperature, withthe higher heat-shocktemperatures causing greaterlosses, despite their equivalenceas measured by heat load. Dough

properties showed greatestsensitivity to stress treatmentsabove 36º C, these higher stressescausing considerable losses ofdough strength and reductions inthe proportion of very largeglutenin polymers.

Results implicating the sizedistribution of the gluteninproteins have been obtained byfractionation and reconstitutionof flour proteins from control andheat-stressed grain. Evaluation oftheir function in a ‘model-doughsystem’ showed that the mainchange in dough functioncorrelated with the gluteninfraction from the heat-stressedsample. This fraction was shownto have a reduced proportion oflarge polymeric glutenin by size-exclusion HPLC and field-flowfractionation. In addition, thestarch prepared from the heat-stressed grain exhibited asignificantly lower peak viscosityin the Rapid ViscoAnalyser.

These heat-induced changes inthe structure of the gluteninproteins are presumed to occur inthe immature grain under theinfluence of ‘chaperone’ proteins.Their presence during heat stresshas been investigated by applyinga ‘proteome’ approach. This hasinvolved the development ofnovel extraction methods andanalysis by two-dimensionalelectrophoresis (Fig 2.4). Over 200polypeptides have beenseparated, and many of thesehave been characterised by massspectrometry and N-terminalamino-acid sequencing. Specificdifferences in proteincomposition have been identifiedas a result of heat-stress. Heat-tolerant and susceptible varietiesare now being compared bythese methods, in search ofdifferences in their proteome(protein composition) that mayexplain the diversity of reactionsto temperature fluctuations

32

Fig 2.4 - Two dimensional “proteome” analysis of the compositionof proteins in immature grain of the heat-susceptible varietyWyuna.

4 7PH

Wyuna (17 DPA)-Endosperm proteinspH4-7, L, 18 cm IPG 8-18% T SDS-PAGE Silver-stain

Project 2.1.5 - Flexibility ofwheat use Project Leader: Helen Allen

Background and ObjectivesThe objective of this set ofprojects is to provide improvedflexibility and management inproducing quality wheats. Theprojects involve ‘benchmarkingacross Australia’ (to compare thequality and molecularcomposition of premium wheats),study of the ‘genetic andbiochemical basis for varietalinterchangeability’,‘managingwithin paddock variation in grainquality’ and the development ofprocedures for ‘blending qualitytypes’ to meet marketspecifications. These projectswere developed as a result ofgrower initiatives and workshops

involving all branches of theindustry. All current aspects ofthis group of projects werereviewed at a one-day workshopheld at North Ryde on March17th. A report of the day’sproceedings has been published,containing a summary andcopies of the overhead films usedby speakers. One of the originalfive projects has already beencompleted. The remainingprojects are well advanced, beingscheduled for completion withinthe next few years.

ProgressThe first of these sub-projects(‘bench-marking varieties acrossAustralia’), involves quality testinggrain from 12 sites aroundAustralia for a set of 15 varieties,including 11 hard and 4 soft

wheats, from each Australianbreeding program. Grain from allsites was obtained in goodcondition from the 1997 harvest,but only from 9 sites from the1998 season. Grain characteristicsof the samples were determinedas % screenings, incidence ofblackpoint, test weight, 1000kernel weight, hardness andprotein content. Milling qualitywas determined by flourextraction and flour colour index.Starch pasting properties weredetermined using the Rapid ViscoAnalyser (RVA). Sub-sampleswere sent to SARDI (Adelaide),where physical-doughcharacteristics were determinedusing the Farinograph andExtensograph.

Buhler flour extraction resultswere comparable between allsites, except for Western Australia,where small, pinched grain hadthe effect of lowering the flourextraction rates. Uniform flourcolour was detected across allsites. Flour colour results for allregions demonstrated high b*(yellowness) values for Krichauff.RVA parameters for each siteappeared to be comparable,although the peak heights for thehard varieties from Narrabri wereslightly lower than for the othersites.

Physical dough tests highlightedthe differences between the sites,although no one site wasconsistently better than any otherfor all of the parameters tested.Farinograph water absorptionvalues varied slightly between thesites. From the Extensographdata, Narrabri samples appear tobe the most extensible, but thisagain can be attributed to thehigh protein content of thesamples.When extensibility isexpressed per unit of protein foreach sample, there is very littledifference between all sites forboth the hard and soft varieties.

33

Fig 2.5 - The results of blending pairs of flour samples differing in time to peak dough mixing.The results depends largely on the compatability of HMW glutenin alleles shown for each A and B pair varieties. Astraight line is included connecting the values for the pure samples, for comparison with the lines connecting theexperimental points.

���

���

���

���

���

���

� �� �� �� �� �� �� � �� � �����������������������

����������

���

������

���

��������������

������������

���

���

���

���

���

���

� �� �� �� �� �� �� � �� � �����������������������

����������

���

���

�������������������

������������

������

���

���

���

���

���

���

� �� �� �� �� �� �� � �� � �����������������������

����������

���

���

��������������

������������

������

���

���

���

���

���

���

� �� �� �� �� �� �� � �� � �����������������������

����������

���

���

��������������

������������

������

With the physical dough testingcompleted, samples will now besent to SARDI for flat breadanalysis.Yellow alkaline noodlequality testing will be carried outat VIDA (Horsham) for all of thehard varieties.Agriculture WA(Perth) will produce white-saltednoodles from the soft-varietysamples. Pan bread and steamedbread will be produced at WaggaWagga.

In a related study conducted atthe Wagga Wagga AgriculturalInstitute, frosted grain from the1998 harvest was examined todetermine if it was feasible toseparate this type of sample intodifferent fractions, thus removingthe badly frosted grain.Previously, it was thought thatfrosted grain was suitable only forfeed. Small, pinched grain, poormilling results, weak doughcharacteristics and poor bakingresults are some of the propertiesof frosted samples. By gradingthe frosted samples, the small,shrivelled grain was removed,leaving large grain with highquality characteristics.

Through baking trials we verifiedthat this grain could then be usedfor normal processing.Acceptablegermination rates for frostedwheat are also achieved aftergrading. These results have beenof considerable value to growers,because the severe late frost inOctober 1998 resulted inconsiderable losses in grainquality.

The project on geneticinterchangeability is a follow-upto the Prime-Hard-in-the-Southstudies, with the aim of obtaininginformation about ‘north-south’variations for a much wider rangeof genotypes than could be testedin the main field trials. In themost recent trials of these manygenotypes, quality did not differsystematically between north andsouth, though there weredifferences between sites. Arelated project in this set is astudy of quality variations withina paddock, such as are relevant to‘precision agriculture’. Mostsignificantly, there was noindication of the expectedinverse relationship betweengrain yield and protein content inthe analyses of numerouspaddock samples.

Another potential tool fortailoring quality to market needsinvolves the blending of wheats(or of flours after milling). Goodprogress has been made towardspredicting the qualities of blendsfor attributes that are not linearlyrelated, particularly doughproperties. Non-linearity wasmost pronounced for genotypesthat differed considerably in theirglutenin-subunit composition. Inaddition, the outcome of blendingwas found to be affected by themilling process itself. Currentresearch is directed towardsmodelling multiple-componentmixtures. Blending studies onnoodle quality relate particularlyto product colour. Noodle colour

could be predicted, based onMinolta assessment of slurries offlour samples from small-scalemilling.These studies currentlyaim to determine the feasibility ofupgrading low-protein noodlewheats, by blending them withother grades of wheat havinghigher protein contents.

Project 2.1.6 - Field trials oftemperature-controlled grainstorageProject Leaders:Jonathan Banks and Peter Gras

Background and Objectives There are progressive andsignificant changes in the qualityof grain stored at temperaturesabove 30º C, according to theresults of the past few years ofwork in the QWCRC project 2.1.1.Most of these changes make thegrain less suitable for the millingand baking industries. Thesefindings point to significantcauses of quality variation,because most of Australia’s wheatis delivered at temperaturesexceeding 30º C (even insouthern regions), and becausethese high temperatures aremaintained unchanged duringmany months for a large mass ofgrain.

Aeration is the cheapest and mostefficient means of reducing thetemperature, and also reducinginsect multiplication. Laboratorystudies imply that aeration totemperatures near 20º C has thepotential to minimise qualityvariation during storage. The aimof this new project was todetermine the effectiveness ofaeration in preventing quality lossin an actual silo situation.

ProgressThis new project (commencedduring 1998/99) is based onlaboratory experiments (Project2.1.1) which showed that high-

34

Fig 2.6 - Pilot-scale experiments on aeration to prevent thedeterioration of dough properties of wheat during storage.

temperature storage causes aprogressive increase in the mixingrequirement of flours milled fromthe stored grain. This isaccompanied by changes in theproperties of dough with storageas measured by theExtensograph, namely, increasedresistance to extension anddecreased extensibility. The sumof these changes leads to areduction in bread quality.

These changes are in accordancewith ‘anecdotal’ observations ofmillers and bakers in the industry.The laboratory-scale experimentsalso demonstrated that thesechanges could be slowed greatlyby reducing the storagetemperature. Such improvementsin storage conditions could beachieved by the more widespreaduse of aeration in bulk storage.This strategy would cool grain totemperatures at which the rate ofquality change is much reduced.This strategy also offers theadvantage of reducing the risk ofinsect growth, and potentialmould development.

To gain industry acceptance ofthe need for aeration, practicaldemonstrations were needed tocomplement the laboratoryexperiments, thereby showing thatdifferences in quality areobtained for bulk grain, storedunder aerated and non-aeratedconditions.To achieve this aim, apair of matching storages ofwheat at Narromine werecompared during 1999 (followingthe 1998/99 harvest), one beingaerated and the other notaerated. Both consisted of 800tonnes of Prime Hard wheat,initially at 30º C.

Grain samples have been takenfrom both silos after 70 days’storage, for comparison with thegrain as initially placed intostorage and since kept underrefrigeration). After only 20 days’aeration, the temperature of theaerated grain had fallen to 24º C,whereas the non-aerated grainstill had a temperature of over27ºC after 70 days’ storage. Qualityanalysis of the resulting grainsamples is continuing.

Training and EducationPart two of this program relates totraining initiatives that are detailedin the relevant section of thisAnnual Report. These projects aredesigned to provide extension ofthe research outcomes of the CRCfor the benefit of the wheat-growing industry, as well asincreasing quality consciousnessamong producers, their advisers,grain handlers and marketers.These objectives are being achievedthrough the development anddelivery of literature, workshops,seminars, displays and resourcematerials.

Project 2.2.1 - Value AddedTraining for Key Influencers.Project Leader: Jim Vandore

Outcome:■ New understanding of wheat

processing by key influencersin the value-adding chain

Project 2.2.2: Quality wheatfor quality manufacturedproductsProject Leader: Jim Vandore

Outcome:■ Progressive personnel in

farming who know about theprocessor’s needs

Project 2.2.3 - Wheat qualityinformation for producers,agronomists and grainmarketersProject Leader: Clare Johnson

Outcomes:■ Aids to educate key

individuals and groupsthrough lectures anddemonstrations.

■ Growers and agronomists whoare more:(i) familiar with the wheatquality attributes sought byparticular processors andconsumers (ii) better able to managetheir crop to provide, in a cost-effective manner, grain of therequired quality.

Project 2.2.4: Maintaining grainquality during on-farmstorageProject Leader: Graeme Matheson

Outcome:■ Maintenance of grain quality

with significantly lessspoilage/wastage of on-farmstored grain due toinappropriate storagepractices.

Project 2.2.5 - National qualityassurance on-farm Project Leader: Di Miskelly

Outcome:■ Assurance of grain quality

throughout the value-addedchain from paddock to plate

35

MAJOR RESEARCHMILESTONES ACHIEVED INPROGRAM 2■ Commercial evaluation and

release of WheatRite test cardfor rapid estimation of sproutdamage on-farm and at grainreceival.

■ Understanding how to achievepremium-grain quality in areasthat have not previouslyachieved quality premiums;recommendations provided togrowers.

■ Extension of laboratory-basedgrain-storage experiments topilot scale in country silos.

■ Identification of factorsresponsible for quality lossfollowing heat stress in thefield.

■ Application of advancedmethods of proteinfractionation andcharacterisation (proteomeanalysis) to further elucidategrain-protein composition.

■ Completion of ‘PrecisionAgriculture’ project, providingdata on variation in proteincontent within a paddock.

■ Development of a preliminarymodel to describe the results,for dough properties, ofblending grain or floursamples.

36

Wheat storage silos at Narromine

The initial step in the wheatprocessing chain is flour

milling. Milling performance andflour extraction rate are of majoreconomic importance to flourmillers and wheat marketers.Opportunities may exist tomaximise extraction rate, withoutsacrificing flour quality, by usingnew milling technologies which areunder investigation in this program.

Flour mill customers depend onflour mills to supply flour ofappropriate quality for end productprocessing. Quality in this contextincludes not only the normalchemical and physicalcharacteristics, but alsomicrobiological specifications.Themicrobiological status of milledproducts depends on themicrobiological status of theincoming wheat, and Australia, withits dry harvests and low wheatintake moisture contents, isfavourably placed in this regard.

This program operates with theactive collaboration of theQWCRC commercial partners.

Program ObjectivesThrough Program 3a QualityWheat CRC seeks to provide ascientific basis for technicalinformation used in flour millingin the domestic and overseasmarkets, as well as providingfeedback to breeders and otherresearchers. Other researchprojects in the program focus onthe use of new technologies tomodify the milling process and tomonitor the distribution of thewheat microflora through themilling process.An importantobjective of the program is toprovide the commercial partnerswith timely and usefulinformation for furtherapplication.

Project 3.1.3 - Pilot MillingStudiesProject Leader: Michael Southan

Background And ObjectivesThe overall aim of this project isto provide information on themilling and end-product qualityof specific wheat varieties andgrades of particular interest tobreeders (Agriculture WA, NSWAgriculture, University of Sydney),processors (Arnotts, Defiance,Goodman Fielder,Westons) andmarketers (AWB Ltd). All of theAWB’s customer surveys confirmthat soundly-based and credibletechnical milling advice is anessential marketing tool.To beeffective, the Advisers need to beconstantly generating new anduseful information with which toimpress the customer and thisrepresents the true value of themain outcomes of the work.Whilethe AWB is the immediatebeneficiary, the ultimatebeneficiaries are the graingrowers so this can be viewed asa return on the GRDC investmentin the CRC.

Specifically, the pilot milling trialsprovide AWB Ltd with:

■ data and hands-on experiencefor the AWB Senior MillingAdviser on the millingperformance of key gradesamples.This provides great

assistance to the AWB SeniorMilling Adviser on overseastechnical missions and formsthe basis for advice andrecommendations to AWB’smilling clients;

■ the pilot milling results whichenable AWB Ltd to identify thecommercial millingcharacteristics of eachseason’s samples and identifyany potential problems orchanges in performancecompared with samples fromthe previous season orsamples of similar gradesbetween states and

■ commercial quality flour forsupply to potential clients fortheir evaluation.

Progress Fourteen wheat samples werepilot milled in the 1999 PilotMilling Studies Program. Thesecomprised three varieties,Arrino,Calingiri and Nyabing; one PrimeHard sample,APH Newcastle; onePrime Hard 5 sample, PH5-Newcastle; six AustralianPremium White samples,APWPort Adelaide,APW Port Lincoln,APW Portland Victoria,APWAlbany, HAPW Geelong and APWPort Kembla; one AustralianStandard White - Noodle sample,ASW-N Fremantle and twoadvanced crossbred lines RAC820 and JM 73.

PROGRAM 3A: PROCESSING OF WHEATAND WHEATPRODUCTS (MILLING)Program Manager: Ms Di Miskelly

Di MiskellyProgram Manager

PROGRAM 3A OBJECTIVES

Provide a scientific basis

for technical information

used in flour milling in

the domestic and

overseas markets, as

well as providing

feedback to breeders

and other researchers.

Use new technologies to

modify the milling

process, and provide the

commercial partners

with timely and useful

information for further

application.

37

Fig 3.1 - Pilot Milling Flour Extraction Rates

�

��

��

�

�� ��� ������ �����

� �������������

� ������������

�� ����

��!��"����������

����#���

$��%�� ����&�'(

("�!��#)*��

��+�(�,��- ��

.�����#�+���

������� �/�%!��

������� ����

Straight run flour was collectedfrom all samples, 60% extractionflours from Arrino, Calingiri,Nyabing,ASW Noodle,APWGeraldton and APW Albany and82% extraction flours from APWPort Lincoln,APW Port Adelaide,APW Port Kembla and APWPortland. All flour samples havebeen distributed to the CRCpartners who requested them.Flour and wheat quality datawere supplied by AWB Ltd andend product quality data byBunge Defiance, GoodmanFielder and Westons.

Extraction rates ranged from74.3% for the Albany APW sampleto 78.2% for both the APHNewcastle and Port Kembla APWsamples. The APH sample fromNewcastle did not yield as muchflour as might be expected andthis most likely reflects the poorquality of this wheat crop in thenorth of NSW. On the other hand,the APW from Port Kembla had agood extraction rate which didnot reflect the quality problemsexperienced in the south of NSW.Interestingly, the APW from PortAdelaide had a good extractionrate as did the Arrino from WA.JM 73 had a similar extractionrate (77.6%) but was lower thanmight be expected for a Suncobackcross. The APW from Albanyhad the lowest extraction ratefollowed by Calingiri, also fromWA, and the HAPW sample fromGeelong. In very general termsfrom the limited number ofsamples milled in this project theNSW and SA wheats had thebetter flour extraction rates whilethe WA and Victorian wheats hadthe lower flour extraction rates.

The final report will be publishedshortly.

Project 3.1.4 - Microbiologyand the flour milling processProject Leader:Ailsa Hocking

Background And Objectives Flour millers are under increasingpressure from their customers toprovide flour and other millproducts to particular quality andmicrobiological specifications. Inaddition to this, changes in foodhygiene regulations will requireall food producers and foodhandlers to have Hazard AnalysisCritical Control Points-based(HACCP) food safety plans toensure the microbiological,physical and chemical safety ofall their food products. Thisproject was initiated in responseto these pressures. The aims areto study the distribution ofpathogenic microorganisms, andthose causing spoilage throughthe various milling proceduresand to assess the fate ofmicroorganisms entering the millon the incoming grain. Anextensive survey of flour millsover a two year period willestablish a scientific basis for thesetting of microbiologicalspecifications for flour and othermill products.

ProgressMill sampling:Sampling from the nineparticipating flour millscontinued during the year. Wecontinued to have excellentcooperation from the mill staffand from the CRC partners.Consolidated reports fromRounds 3, 4, 5 and 6 were sent outduring the year to participatingmills, technical and managementpersonnel in the parentcompanies, and CRC participants.Very positive feedback wasreceived from a number ofrecipients of these reports. Theseventh (final) round of samplingwas interrupted by the late arrivalof some samples, and thecommencement of the pilot

millings at BRI. The consolidatedreport for Round 7 was sent outin July 1999.

Pilot milling:During December, January,February and March, a significantnumber of downgraded wheatsamples was testedmicrobiologically to assess thesuitability of the samples for pilotmilling. Test weight and fallingnumber assessments were doneby BRI. Many samples that weredeemed microbiologicallysuitable were ruled out by theirlow falling number and testweight results. Suitable gristswere finally sourced fromQueensland, with the assistanceof John Dines (Bunge Defiance).Pilot milling commenced in May,in conjunction with some trialsusing the Satake PeritecDebranner to assess the effect inlowering the microbiologicalload. Control grists of both hardand soft wheat were also milled.Microbiological testing on allthese samples was completed inJuly.

The project has been given athree month extension to enablefull analysis of the results.Thefinal report will be available inSeptember, 1999.

Project 3.1.5 - Use of newtechnology to aid mill processcontrolProject Leader: Michael Southan

Background And ObjectivesFlour mill efficiency is usuallyexpressed in terms of grist rate,that is, the amount of wheatrequired to produce one tonne offlour. Even small improvements ingrist rate are of high commercialvalue, but run the risk ofincreasing bran contaminationwith consequent effects onproduct quality.The main brancomponents can now be

38

measured using commercialimage analysis systems such asthe Dipix, Branscan and Maztech.Using the Satake/Peritecdebranning machine, brancomponents can be removedselectively during the millingprocess to produce flours with arange of yields, aleurone andpericarp concentrations.

Through this project we aim tounderstand the effects on endproduct quality of increasedconcentrations of brancomponents in flour, and toprovide the scientific basis forbran component concentrationspecifications which couldroutinely allow higher flour yieldsthan the current qualityspecifications based on ashcontent and colour grade.

ProgressSamples of commercial flourfrom Australia and New Zealandwere benchmarked to determinethe range of bran components(aleurone and pericarp) and ashcontent.The ash contents offlours from WA, Qld and NZ werehigher than those from SA, NSWand Vic, but the measurement ofthe bran componentconcentrations showed that SAflours had the highestconcentrations, with NZ havingthe lowest.This demonstrates thatash content per se can be ahighly misleading indicator ofbran content of flours of diverseorigins.

In a further experiment, streamedsamples from a commercial flourgrist were tested for Branscan(specks and bran content), ash,colour grade and Minolta ColourMeter values.All the traditionalmeasures of flour cleannesscorrelated significantly withBranscan results.

39

Fig 3.2 - Distribution of Standard Plate Counts for wheat,conditioned wheat and flour.

0 = Samples with less than 10 colony forming units per gram (cfu/g).1 = Samples with 10-99 cfu/g. 2 = Samples with 100-999 cfu/g, etc.Before conditioning, 44% of wheat samples were in the lower count range(<104), but after conditioning, only 22% of wheat samples were below 104 cfu/g. 97% of flour samples had counts < 104 cfu/g.

����������� �!��� �����"��#���$

�

�

��

��

��

��

��

��

% ����&'����

( )� �����

*%�

� � � � � � �

+% &��"��#��,$

�

�

��

��

��

��

��

��

% ����&'����

( )� �����

*%�

� � � � � � �

% ����&'����

�����-� ��� �!��� �����"��#��.$

�

�

��

��

��

��

��

��

( )� �����

*%�

� � � � � � �

��

Pilot milling trials were carriedout on hard and soft grists usingthe Peritec Debranning at twolevels of abrasion. Early resultsindicate that there are differencesbetween corresponding millstreams from the differentmillings in terms of number andarea of bran specks, withdebranned wheats generallyhaving fewer specks in thecleaner flour streams.End products will made fromthese flours so as to assess theeffects of different brancomponents.

MAJOR RESEARCHMILESTONES ACHIEVED INPROGRAM 3A■ Millings for the 1998/99 pilot

milling studies program havebeen completed.

■ Analytical testing has beencompleted on samples fromthe 1998/99 pilot millingstudies.

■ The level, nature anddistribution of the microflorain selected commercial floursfrom all Australian States hasbeen established.

■ The effects of millingvariables, includingdebranning, on thedistribution of microflora inselected mill flows have beeninvestigated.

■ Pilot milling has been carriedout on downgraded wheatand control premium gradewheat from the same area.

■ Pilot Millings usingdebranning at different levelsof abrasion prior to millinghave been carried out.

40

Fig 3.3 - Ash and Dipix (aleurone and pericarp) analyses fromcommercial Australian and New Zealand flours.The data is shown in the form of boxplots.The box extends from the firstto the third quartile of data, with the median shown by the line drawnacross the box. Outliers are plotted with asterisks (*).

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0

�0�

��

/� �0�� &� (&� 12 3�4 (5

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0�

%&� �

/� �0�� &� (&� 12 3�4 (5

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0

1�����*

/� �0�� &� (&� 12 3�4 (5

To maximise food productquality and value, the grain

foods processing industry needsmodern systems for real timemeasurements, during processing,of product properties andprocessing parameters. This willlead to more fully automated foodmanufacturing, more consistenthigher quality products, and greaterefficiency and profitability.

This program comprises threeprojects. “Process measurementand control for dough mixing andmakeup plants” involves studies ofthe mixing of dough and whathappens to it as it passes throughthe makeup plant. Our studies onthe makeup plant have beenextended this year to includesheeting processes that areimportant not only in bread doughmoulding, but also in themanufacture of a variety ofproducts such as flat breads,pastry, biscuits, noodles andtortillas. “Oven technology tooptimise product quality andimprove efficiency” involvesresearching the development of acomplete process control systemfor baking, using existing and newlydeveloped technology to measureprocess variables and productquality. “Rheology of yeasteddoughs” is a PhD project,developing new ways to measurethe fundamental physical propertiesof full-formula doughs so that theeffects of all ingredients, includingyeast, are accounted for whenmaking these measurements. Useof these new methods will allow usto understand how yeastcontributes to the development ofdough, and will ensure thatmeasurements and predictions ofdough properties will be moreindustrially relevant.

Program Objectives The objectives of Quality WheatCRC researchers in this programare to understand therelationships between industrial

scale and laboratory scale doughprocessing and baking and theeffects of processing on a rangeof baked-product qualityattributes. At the dough stages ofbakery processing we can do thisthrough monitoring systems suchas power consumption, load cellsand torque sensors suitable for arange of mixer types and makeupequipment. We can also measurechanges in dough properties atstages after mixing and relatethese to product quality (thisincludes fundamental rheologicalmeasurements).At the bakingstages we can define optimumbaking conditions for variousproducts and reduce energy costsby optimising the use of heat andhumidity. Through understandingthese we can then develop newintegrated control systems forcommercial bakeries, includingsystems that will enable remotemonitoring and management ofbakeries.

Project 3.4.1 - Processmeasurement and control fordough mixing and makeupplantsProject Leader: Nigel Larsen

Background And ObjectivesThe goal of this project is tofacilitate the ability of the QualityWheat CRC’s food manufacturingpartners to add value to cereal-based food products, by defining,predicting and reducing theindustrial processingrequirements, and improving thequality of these foods. We can dothis through research tounderstand the relationshipsbetween laboratory scale andindustrial scale mixing and definehow dough rheological propertiesaffect the outcomes of mixingand makeup plant (eg sheeting)processes.

It is important to the bakingindustry that small scale testing isable to predict industrialprocessing requirements.Wheatbreeders rely on small scaletesting to provide “industrialrelevance” in the selection of newwheats for release intocommercial production. Millersuse some form of small scaledough testing (eg Farinographand Extensograph) to meet flourspecifications and bakers have touse these measurements to makeempirical judgements andsubsequent adjustments toprocessing parameters (eg, wateraddition and mixing time or workinput). However, the bakingindustry has long been sayingthat most current tests for flourquality do not predict industrialprocessing performance. Thiscosts bakeries in poorer qualityand inconsistent products andloss of efficiency and profitability.

ProgressTo find solutions to theseproblems, Quality Wheat CRC’snew approach has been tomeasure and compare doughsproduced on industrial andlaboratory scale mixers anddough sheeting systems, using avariety of methods. This hasnever been done before, to anygreat extent, by either industry orresearchers. During 1998-99 wemade excellent progress towardsunderstanding what happensduring the sheeting of dough.

The aim of the first part of ourresearch was to compare largedeformation rheologicalproperties of a dough sheet withbaking quality of dough from thesame sheet. Apparent viscosity atlarge deformation appeared to bethe best predictor of theminimum sheeting requirementto obtain high loaf volume.This issimilar to mechanical doughdevelopment (MDD) mixing ofdough where the mixing curve

PROGRAM 3B: PROCESSING OF WHEATAND WHEATPRODUCTS (BAKING)Program Manager: Dr Nigel Larsen

Dr Nigel LarsenProgram Manager

PROGRAM 3B OBJECTIVES

To understand the

relationships between

industrial scale and

laboratory scale dough

processing and baking,

and the effects of

processing on a range

of baked-product

quality attributes.

Through understanding,

develop new integrated

control systems for

commercial bakeries,

including systems that

will enable remote

monitoring and

management of

bakeries.

41

(apparent viscosity) is used todetermine mixing requirement.Baking tests showed that loafquality of bread made withsheeting (volume and crumbtexture) was different from that ofbread made with MDD mixing,particularly when dough wasdeveloped beyond the minimumsheeting requirement.

We then investigated thesedifferences and includedmeasurements of proteincomposition by SE-HPLC andquantified the thiol groupsexposed during sheeting. That is,we looked at the relationshipbetween the physical andchemical properties of doughsheets.

The weak flour we used requiredonly about 15-20 sheeting passesto develop fully, whereas thestrong flour required 50 passes.This is analogous to longermixing times for strong floursdeveloped by conventionalmixers. The SE-HPLC analysesshowed what happened to thevarious protein fractions as thedough was developed bysheeting. The results were similarto mixer-developed dough in thatinsoluble HMW glutenins aresolubilised during sheeting doughdevelopment. However, thenumbers of thiols generated bythe physical forces exerted on thedough were only about a quarterof those generated by mechanicaldough development of dough.Hence sheeting is a much moregentle process than mixing in oursmall scale process simulationstudies. These results may havesignificance for minimising theuse of dough oxidants in bakeryproducts.

Project 3.4.2 - Oventechnology to optimiseproduct quality and improveefficiencyProject Leader:Thomas Adamczak

Background and Objectives The goal of this project is todevelop a complete processcontrol system using newlydeveloped technologies tomeasure process variables andproduct quality. To developequipment and strategies for theoptimisation of baking andproving a range of hardwareoptions has been tested. During1998-99, we also did a lot of workon weight loss of products duringproduction, humidity control ofthe oven and looked at the effectof baking on crumb softness andtexture analysis. Ultimately, abakery that has on-linemonitoring and process controlsoftware and hardware willrequire little operator input andwould result in more consistentand higher quality loaves for theconsumer, and higher profitabilityfor the baker.

ProgressColour meterThe Hunter lab HT Colour Meterhas been used during extensivetrials in a commercial bakery toevaluate it as an objectivecontinuous assessment system forcomposite crust colour/seedcover of bread buns. The resultscollected confirm that theinstrument can be reliably usedas a quality control tool and be apart of the total bakery qualitycontrol system for bread andbread roll plants. From this workit would be possible to developan online system for qualityevaluation.

Humidity control during bakingBaking tests in the pilot bakeryindicated that crustcharacteristics are influenced bythe combination of humidity and

temperature on the surface of theproduct during the first 3 - 5 minof baking. No influence on thecrust was recorded by applyingany levels of humidity in the laterstages of baking. This informationcan be used to optimise thedesired crust characteristicsthrough humidity control. It mayalso be applied to enhance ovendesign.

Process quality parameters - display and control systemOur work progressed softwaredevelopment for a ColourMonitoring System and WeightLoss Monitoring System forcommercial bakeries. Industrialtrials with our commercialpartners, using software wedeveloped, showed that the totalweight loss fluctuated by up to 20grams. Weight loss is a criticalquality control parameter. It is anexcellent indicator of productionconsistency and is a directindicator of expected yields.

Weight loss monitoring ensuresthat the product is not in breachof the Trade Measurements Act(packaged articles regulation).The Act stipulates that not onesample be more than 5% lighterthan the stated net weight of thepackaged product. The averageof 12 loaves must also not beunder the stated weight. Hence, ifthese fluctuations of up to 20grams can be reduced and thedivider dough piece weight canbe lowered by only 10 grams, thebenefit to the bakery should be inthe order of tens of thousands ofdollars each year in ingredientcosts alone. The total operationand marketing benefits should besignificant as well. If thesecalculations are applied acrossthe whole Australian bakingindustry, the benefits couldrepresent over $2M saving iningredients.

42

We are also studying thecorrelation between weight lossfluctuation and other bakingparameters and will attempt todevelop a system to reduce thesefluctuations in industry.

Bread Weighing MachineTo obtain weight loss data at anylocation on a production line, aportable bread weighing machinewas designed and constructed.The machine removes a loaf ofbread from the conveyor, weighsit, logs the weight in a computerand then returns the loaf to theconveyor. In commercial bakerytrials one loaf in every grouppassing was weighed. This isenough to monitor the generaltrends in final weight and weightloss of various products,particularly at bakeries notequipped with weight checkers atthe slicers.

Future uses for the breadweighing machine may includemeasuring core temperature andfacilitating taking digitalphotographs of loaves that are outof specification.

Bread Softness AnalysisThe aim of this work was tocompare four methods of breadtexture analysis using the TA.XT2texture analyzer, as indicators forconsumer preference as afunction of degree of baking.Approximately ten peopleparticipated in the sensoryevaluation. Bread samples weretested using the texture analyzerand sensory analysis on the sameday. There was significantcorrelation between sensoryevaluation of the texture of thebread and the results from thetexture analyser. However thebaking and slicing experimentalprocedure needs improvement toreduce the variance of the resultsbefore one of the testing methodscan be recommended as a goodindicator of consumer preferencefor bread.

Project 3.4.4 - Rheology ofYeasted DoughsProject Leader: Marcus Newberry

Background and ObjectivesDespite the central importance ofyeast in producing the distinctiveaerated structure of many bakedproducts most rheological studiesof doughs ignore the effect ofyeast.Thus focussing on yeasteddoughs will help to provide moreindustrially relevant doughrheology information.Thisproject’s central aim is to measurethe rheology of fermentingdoughs using fundamental shearand extension rheological tests.Unlike the few previousrheological studies on yeasteddoughs, in this work the yeast isinactivated prior to measuring, toavoid confounding of the resultsby yeast fermenting duringcollection of data. Rheologicalchanges during fermentation willbe quantified; the affect of densityand gas cell size will bedetermined. Once a fullerunderstanding of the influence of

fermentation on dough rheologyis obtained the affect of post-mixing operations in the make-upplants on dough rheology willalso be investigated.

ProgressThere are few publishedrheological studies of yeasteddough, but in all the yeast wasallowed to ferment as therheological data were collected.There are several problems withleaving the yeast active duringmeasurement. Firstly there is noway of determining whether themeasured properties are due toprior fermentation of the doughor to fermentation that occurredduring the measurements.Secondly the techniques used atSydney University involve longresting periods and, particularlyfor some tests, long measurementtimes during which significantfermentation can occur.Thusinvestigations into ways ofinactivating the yeast withinmixed bread doughs using avariety of freezing processes weremade.The most effective meansof reducing yeast fermentation, asmeasured by dough volumeexpansion at 37 ºC, was rapidfreezing followed by very slowthawing of the sample.

Initial studies of the affect offermentation on the shear andextensional properties ofinactivated fermented yeasteddoughs have revealed significantrheological changes during thefermentation. Firstly, underuniaxial extension the peakviscosity, or viscosity at failure, ofthe dough decreases withfermentation. Likewise, the strainat which the extended samplebreaks, a measure of extensibility,decreases with fermentation. Onepossible, and very tentative,interpretation of these findings isthat they are a measure of whatbakers describe as “doughmellowing”. Oscillatory shear

43

Fig 3.4 - Normalised, or standardised, dynamic stress moduli ofdoughs fermented for various periods.The maximum behaviour is observed at several different strain levels,including those above the linear limit to standard viscoelastic rheologicaltheory.

�

�

�

�

+������� ������"���$

� �� �� �� �� ��� ���

( ���%��!�/������ !&%�

�.67.6 ��

�

�

�

�

& ������0����& ������0���& ��������& ���������

measurements, under increasingstrain, revealed a maximum stressresponse after around 60 minutesof fermentation (Fig 3.4). Anencouraging finding from theshear rheology experiments isthat the optimum pattern isobserved at a range of strainlevels, including strains abovewhich standard viscoelasticrheological theory collapses(known as the linear viscoelasticlimit). The very low linearviscoelastic limit (at around 0.1%strain) is a major limitation toapplying existing rheologicaltheory to dough rheology.

Thus this observation ofconsistent behaviour over a rangeof strains raises hopes ofdeveloping a rheological modelto explain the changes in doughrheology during fermentation.

Verification of these initialfindings has had to wait until therecent development of pre-conditioning methods to reducethe inherent data variation in therheological readings toacceptable levels.

MAJOR RESEARCHMILESTONES ACHIEVED INPROGRAM 3B■ A new pilot-scale dough

sheeter with interchangeablerolls was custom built toenable simultaneousmeasurements of roll speeds,gaps, separation forcesbetween rolls, torque reactionon each roll and dough sheetthickness during sheetingstudies.

■ The relationships between thephysical and chemicalproperties of sheeted doughsfrom a weak and a strong flourwere established andcorrelated with the bakingquality of breads baked fromthese doughs.

■ On-line Hunter Lab colourmeasurement was confirmedas a reliable quality controltool for integration into bakeryquality control systems.

■ A portable bread weighingmachine was designed andconstructed to remove a loafof bread from the conveyor,weigh it, log the weight in acomputer and then return theloaf to the conveyor.

■ Measurements of weight lossindicated that annual savingsof over $2M could be made byreducing divider fluctuationsto less than 10 g per doughpiece and oven losses to lessthan 20 g per loaf.

■ A method was developed forinactivating yeast in fermenteddough to remove the problemof yeast fermention duringrheological measurements.

■ Methods were developed forperforming uniaxial extensionand shear sweep rheologicalmeasurements on thesedoughs.

■ A highly promising method forpre-conditioning dough beforerheological tests wasdeveloped to lower thevariation in rheologicalreadings to more acceptablelevels.

44

The On-Line Colour Meter

There is an international trendtowards convenience foods.

These new products must besimple and rapid to prepare. Oftenthey must be available in take awayforms or suitable for microwavereheating. Fortunately many wheatbased products have been adaptedto suit this trend to convenience.Demand for Asian style noodleshas grown enormously throughoutthe world. Instant noodles havebeen the fastest growingconvenience food in the last fiveyears with over 40 billion packs tobe consumed this year.We havealso seen the recent emergenceand success of precooked long lifenoodles and frozen and chillednoodles, which have revitalisedtraditional markets and openednew opportunities. Pasta productshave also seen growth, and there isa trend towards greater diversity ofbread markets, which hasgenerated some increases in breadconsumption even in maturemarkets such as Australia.

Behind these market trends thereis a need to deliver finishedproducts to meet tighter qualityspecifications.To meet theserequirements food manufacturersare demanding tighter raw materialspecifications.The aim of thisprogram is to understand wheatbased products from theperspective of consumers and foodprocessors.What is important tothe consumer and what must thefood processor do to achieve theseproducts? This means looking atthe effect of processing and rawmaterials on finished productquality.The information must thenbe distilled to determine whichwheat quality traits are mostimportant to the food processor.

The wheat specifications developedby this program can be used totarget wheat for discerningmarkets. Delivering the qualitydemanded by markets increasesour competitiveness and potential

to attract higher prices.Thesespecifications can also be used astargets for wheat breeders todevelop new wheats, which bettermeet market requirements.Understanding the foodmanufacturing process andinteractions between the rawmaterial and the process can alsobe extremely helpful in supportingprocessors using our wheat.Thisenables Australia to meet qualityrequirements and effectivelysupport our product in the market.

Program ObjectivesThe objectives of this program areto develop raw materialspecifications and processingknowledge for major wheat basedproducts. This will enable theAustralian wheat industry tobetter meet consumer demandsfor product quality and will alsoimprove efficiency for foodmanufacturers. Development ofraw material specifications willenable sale by specification andthe targeting of more discerningmarkets, and will greatly assist thedevelopment of wheat breedingtargets for enhanced quality.

Project 4.1.1 - Defining starchquality for enhancedperformance of bakedproducts.Project Leader: Dr Hon Yun

Background and ObjectivesStarch forms the majorcomponent of wheat flour andmakes an important contributionto bread character. In this projectwe are seeking to identify howchanges in wheat starchcharacteristics affect bakedproducts.

Results reported in earlier CRCreports indicated that theproportion of A granules had onlya minor impact on starch physicalproperties such as starch viscosityor flour swelling volume.The

effect of starch granule ratio hasnow been assessed for its impacton baking using a specificallydesigned small scale baking test.In addition we have used thewaxy wheat material developedin Program 1 to explore theimpact of amylose to amylopectinratio.

In addition to this work on bakeryproducts, Dr Hon Yun has nowlinked into a GRDC projectseeking to characterise the role ofstarch components for Asiannoodles.This has achieved anumber of synergies, as thesample preparation methods aresimilar.

ProgressA and B granulesFlour was first separated intogluten, starch and water solublefractions.The starch was thenseparated as tailing and primestarch. The prime starchcomponent was separated into A(>10 microns) and B (<10microns) granules using asedimentation procedure whichachieved effective resolution.

Once adequate quantities of thecomponents were created, a baseflour was formed, which consistedof gluten, water solubles andtailing starch in their originalproportions.The prime starchcomponent was then made up ofthe following A:B granule ratios:100% A, 50%A: 50% B and 100%Bbased on weight.When preparingthe bread doughs from thereconstituted flours. B granulessignificantly increased theamount of water required to forma dough. A higher water additionis considered desirable by bakersas it increases their bread yield.Intact starch granules tend tohold water on their surfaceduring dough formation. For thesame weight of starch, a sampleof B granules has a much highernumber of granules with a greater

PROGRAM 4: PRODUCTS FROM WHEATProgram Manager: Dr Ken Quail

Dr Ken QuailProgram Manager

PROGRAM 4 OBJECTIVES

To develop raw

material specifications

and processing

knowledge for major

wheat based products.

Enable the Australian

wheat industry to

better meet consumer

demands for product

quality.

Enable sale by

specification and the

targeting of more

discerning markets.

45

total surface area than for asample of A granules.The higherwater absorption values obtainedappear to be consistent with theincrease in surface areaassociated with the B granules.Other features of the dough suchas mixing time did not appear tobe significantly affected by theratio of A to B granules.

The samples were baked intohigh top and square sandwichloaves (Fig 4.1).This was done ona miniature scale using only 40gof flour for each loaf.Theminiature scale was used due tothe difficulty in obtainingadequate quantities of B granules.The sample with 100% B granuleshad a significantly higher loafvolume and produced softerbreadcrumb (Fig 4.2).The effectof B granules on crumb softnesswas also found using the squarebread samples). It is possible thatthe softer breadcrumb was in partdue to the higher water additionrequired for the B granules.

Higher water absorption andincreased bread crumb softnessare both desirable features forbread production and it may beworth considering the target ofhigher B granule compositions forbread making.

Whole starch was separated fromthe CRC’s waxy wheat samplesand reconstituted with gluten andwater solubles extracted from abread making flour.This wasimportant as the waxy wheat didnot have good gluten quality andassessment of the whole flourmilled from this sample did notrepresent the potential of thestarch properties. Similarassessment criteria to those usedin the A:B granule work describedabove were used to assess theseflours. When the ratio of waxywheat starch was increased, thewater required to make a breaddough increased byapproximately 2% for each 25%increase in the proportion ofwaxy starch.

The specific loaf volume of breaddid not show any clear trend withan increase in the ratio of thewaxy starch. A major problem ofloaf shrinkage at the high levelsof waxy substitution occurred,which appears to be related tothe high levels of water additionrequired.At high levels ofsubstitution the waxy starch alsomade the bread crumb sticky andunacceptable. At lower levels itimproved the softness andelasticity of the crumb which wasdesirable.

Similar tests were performed forJapanese white salted noodles. Inthis case the noodles becamesofter as the ratio of waxy wheatflour increased. It was alsoapparent that noodle elasticityincreased at low levels ofsubstitution, however this trendwas less clear than the results fornoodle firmness.

Results for the bread and noodlesindicate benefits from the use ofwaxy wheat.This work will needto be reviewed continually, todetermine the optimum levels forsubstitution, as more samples ofwaxy wheat become available.

Project 4.1.2 - Improvement offrozen and par baked productsProject Leader: Ken Quail

Background and ObjectivesFrozen dough for bread andpastry products offers theconvenience of fresh bake-off thathas appeal in both domestic andexport markets.The major limitingfactor is the shelf life of the frozendough.These products loseviability during storage due todeterioration of yeast activity anddamage to the gluten structure byice crystals, chemicals leachedfrom yeast cells and moisturemigration.

Industry is targeting a frozen shelflife of up to six months.The timetaken to evaluate the effects ofprocessing changes andingredients on shelf life over sixmonths restricts progress.Thisprogram is aimed at establishingmethods to provide a rapidstorage test and to provide moreeffective measures of the changestaking place during storage.

ProgressThe deterioration of frozen breaddough appears to be quite linearat constant temperature.A majorproportion of this deterioration isaccounted for by the loss ofgassing power or yeast activity.Work on the cycling of storagetemperatures indicated that boththe disruption of the doughstructure and yeast activity wereaccelerated by this treatment. Inthis phase of the project we haveattempted to match the rate ofdeterioration between doughsstored at constant temperatureand through a temperaturecycling regime.When dough isstored at minus 20ºC, ice crystalsgradually grow and componentssuch as the gluten lose water tothese crystals. By raising thetemperature and then lowering itagain the rate of this process isincreased. A range of times and

46

Fig 4.2 - The effect of granule composition on crumb firmness.

�

�)�

�).

�)2

�)�

�

�)�

�).

���3� ���3����3� ��3��

��8���8��8�

Forc

e (N

)

Fig 4.1 - GranuleReconstituted Bread

temperatures were trialed toobtain a rate that could berelated to the rate of deteriorationat constant storage temperature.The initial temperatures andtimes trialed for cycling, tended todisrupt the dough structure morethan during constant storage andit appeared that the rates weretoo high for an effective rapidstorage test. Further testingshowed that the cycling workedbest when three temperatureswere used and there wereadequate storage times at minus20ºC to allow equilibration of thedough at this temperature. Therate of deterioration under theselected cycling regime could berelated to deterioration atconstant storage temperatureusing loaf volume and gassingpower as measures of quality.Thus, a six month storage trial cannow be completed inapproximately 3 weeks.

To contrast with the work onbread doughs a benchmarkingstudy using commerciallymanufactured frozen croissantdoughs was conducted. Samplesof frozen croissants wereobtained from five manufacturersand stored for six months.Two outof the six samples stood up to thestorage extremely well and had

similar quality, whether baked offat the start of the trial or after sixmonths.The other three sampleswere not as good at the start ofthe trial and deteriorated furtherover the six months.This indicatesthat the technology is available toachieve a commercially viableshelf life with croissants.The extrafat between the layers of doughforms a barrier to water migrationand effectively reduces theimpact of freezing.The challengeremains, how to achieve a similaroutcome for bread doughs thathave significantly less fat.

Project 4.1.3 - Better durumgrain for premium pastaProject Leader: Dr Mike Sissons

Background and ObjectivesAustralia exports about 200,000tonnes of durum wheat perannum with about half of thisgoing to Italy. Opportunities toexport grain and finishedproducts into East Asia in thefuture also exist e.g. Japan currently uses about 2,000,000tonnes grain each year.Australianproduction should target the highquality, lucrative export market,towards which the currentbreeding and research effort isdirected.The aims of this project are todetermine the role of starchproperties and interactionsbetween starch and protein indetermining pasta eating quality,the most appropriate starch andprotein properties for durumimprovement using small-scalepasta making and reconstitutiontechniques to identify themolecular basis of qualitydifferences, and the value ofnovel germplasm introductionsinto a durum background.

ProgressUsing a unique design, a small-scale pasta extruder wasdeveloped to allow thepreparation of pasta from as little

as 25g of semolina.A suitablemethod was developed so thatthe pasta prepared with thisequipment had the same cookedpasta firmness as that preparedfrom a commercial 2kg extruder.The method will be useful forreconstitution studies and toassess breeders’ early generationlines for pasta-making quality.Gluten, starch and soluble proteinhave been isolated from semolinaand recombined in their originalproportions and shown to haveequivalent dough rheology(mixograph curves) cooked pastafirmness, stickiness and cookingloss. In future studies we willexamine the effect of variations inprotein and starch quantity,composition and proportion onmixing and pasta-making quality.This information will provide themolecular basis for a “good”pastaproduct to be defined and will beused to develop diagnostics forthe breeding, processing andmarketing of pasta products.

A collection of 32 tetraploidsevaluated for novel quality in lastyear’s report were again grownthis year and analysed for quality,protein and starch composition.Species that show consistentlydesirable quality attributes will beidentified and crossed withadapted durums.

The recently developed semolinamill yield calibration for thesingle kernel characterisationsystem will be applied toscreening durum lines withknown Buhler mill yield toevaluate the utility of the methodin a breeding program.

Commercial pasta has beenexamined using a differentialscanning calorimeter. There aredistinct differences between mostItalian and Australian pastas aftercooking. Pastas were also cookedfor varying lengths of time,ranging from one third optimum

47

Fig 4.3 - Frozen bread doughsproving - loss of yeastactivity.

Fig 4.4 - DSC thermograms of uncooked pasta from Australian andItalian manufacturers.

��*���&��"45$

�

6��%�"7��$6��%�"58!$ &���"7��$ &���"58!$

�)�

�

�)�

�

�)�

9

9)�

.

:���+% ;�"��$

9� .� 2� �� ,� ��� ���

cooking time to ten minutes overthe optimum cooking time. Ascooking time increased, thestarch gelatinisation peakbecame smaller and occurred ata higher temperature untiloptimum cooking time wasreached. At optimum cookingtime, there was a residual peak inmost Australian pastas, but it wasabsent in most Italian pastas (Fig4.4).

Project 4.1.4 - Optimisation ofthe Processing Strategy forUtilising Australian Wheat inInstant NoodlesProject Leader: Dr Nasir Azudin

Background and ObjectivesThe current world consumptionof instant noodles is over 40billion packs per year.Thisconstitutes a total wheatrequirement in excess of 4.6million tonnes, representing ahighly significant market, which isstill growing.The aim of thisproject is to address the currenttechnical problems faced by flourmillers and instant noodlemanufacturers when usingAustralian wheat in theproduction of instant noodles.The project forms an extension tothe initial project, whichestablished the wheat qualityrequirements for instant noodleproduction.

ProgressStarch work:Starches were isolated from atotal of 28 samples (14 varieties)grown at two different sites(Horsham and Yeelanna) duringthe 95/96 planting trials.The totalamylose content in the primestarches ranged between 24.7%and 30%.The gelatinisationtemperatures were measured bydifferential scanning calorimetry(Perkin-Elmer DSC 7).Considerable differences ingelatinisation temperature (Tp),onset temperature (To) andconclusion temperature (Tc)

were observed between starches.The enthalpy of gelatinization (-∆ HG ) associated with thetransitions varied between 3.31and 4.78 J/g.To ranged between60.58 and 64.5ºC,Tp between 65.3and 69.2ºC, and Tc was between70.9 and 75.3ºC. Significantpositive correlations wereobserved with Tp (r = 0.7, P<0.01)and Tc (r = 0.798, P<0.001) of thesame variety grown at twodifferent sites. Other physicalproperties such as starch pastepeak viscosity and starch granuledistribution were measured.Thephysicochemical properties ofprime starches and therelationship to texturecharacteristics of instant noodlesand Japanese Udon noodles iscurrently being investigated.Asignificant positive linearcorrelation (r = 0.54, P<0.05) wasobserved between the percentageA type starch granules (primestarches with tailings) and thefirmness (maximum load) ofinstant noodles. In addition, asignificant positive linearcorrelation (r = 0.86, P<0.001) wasobserved between the firmness ofinstant noodles of the samewheat variety grown at twodifferent sites.

Addition of commercial starches ininstant noodlesThe use of commercial starch aspartial replacement to flour forinstant noodle production wasinvestigated.Two common typesof starches used in commercialinstant noodle manufacture werelooked at, namely tapioca andpotato starch. Four types oftapioca starches used were: NativeTapioca, National 7, Purity 90 andAmioca (the last 3 beingmodified starches), and the threetypes of potato starches wereNative Potato,Avebe NS-450 18%and Perfectamyl AC (the last 2also being modified starches).Levels of addition investigatedwere 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% foreach starch type.

It was observed that the additionof starch contributed to highersheet brightness, lower rednessand lower yellowness and therewas a good correlation betweenflour brightness and sheetbrightness and a strongcorrelation between flouryellowness and sheet yellowness.For both types of starches, thenative ones seemed to contributeto lower sheet brightness andhigher sheet yellowness than themodified ones.

As for noodle block colours, therewas a good positive correlationbetween flour yellowness andnoodle block yellowness however,correlations between brightnessof flour and noodle block werepoor.There was no specific trendfor the noodle block colours andcooked noodle colours and thiscould to due to the effect of theamount of fat absorbed (as thereis a positive relationship betweenfat content, noodle blockyellowness and cooked noodleyellowness as established by theprevious study).

Various texture parameters(firmness, hardness, springiness,cohesiveness and chewiness)were measured using the LloydTexturemeter LXR 2K5. Noodleswere cut across 7 strands on aplate with a probe for themeasurement of firmness. For thetapioca starches, firmness ofnoodles increased and peaked atbetween 5-10% addition.Themodified tapioca starches did notseem to be as firm as the nativeone. However for the potatostarches, the modified ones werefirmer than the native one at alladdition levels.At 5% addition,firmness was very similar to thesample without starch anddecreased as the level of additionincreased.There were no specifictrends observed for theremaining texture measurementsfor either tapioca or potatostarches.

48

Project 4.1.5 - Wheat and flourproperties affecting thequality, processing and shelflife of fresh long life noodlesProject Leader: Dr Nasir Azudin

Background and ObjectivesLong life noodles have becomeextremely popular in Asiancountries.They are a pre-cookedproduct which is shelf stable andonly requires reheating byconsumers before serving.Through this project we areseeking to determine methods toevaluate shelf stability and toassess wheat qualityrequirements.The majorchallenges of this product aremaintaining its freedom frommicrobial spoilage at roomtemperature, and the achievementof acceptable texture after thehigh temperature treatmentrequired for shelf stability.

ProgresssFollowing up last year’s work, theresults from the microbiologicaltesting showed that using thecurrent processing technique, thelong life noodles can be classifiedas commercially sterile, beingguaranteed a shelf life of at least6 months at ambient temperature.Following the work that was donewith acetic acid, lactic acid wastrialled to see if the same resultscould be obtained.Microbiological testing revealedthat long life noodles made usinglactic acid were commerciallysterile. Lactic acid is the preferredacid due to the fact it is bothcolourless and odourless.Aceticacid gave off a slightly offensiveodour when the noodle packetswere opened. It was found that aconcentration of 5M lactic acidworked well with 10M being alittle too strong and causing somesurface pitting. As had happenedin the acetic acid trials, the lacticacid also caused the whitening ofthe product over time, at bothconcentrations.

With the process formanufacturing this product nowdocumented, various otherparameters were looked at inmore detail. Water content is animportant part of controllingtextural longevity in long lifenoodles, in terms of both firmnessand elasticity. This product ispreferably soft and chewy andincreased water levels arethought to stabilise theseparameters. Water contentsbetween 35 - 45% were trialled forthis product. It was found thatwithout a vacuum mixer, higherwater content could causeprocessing problems, such aslarge dough crumbs, sticky doughsheets and poorly shapednoodles. Due to the increasedwater levels the cut noodlesbecame sticky and requiredvigorous agitation to separateduring the parboiling stage,causing twisting and breaking ofstrands. Results indicated thatthere was a slight increase in thespringiness of the samples withhigher water content, howeverthis levelled out over time, as didchewiness. No extensiveadvantage for increasing thewater content in the formulationwas found.

The use of commerciallyavailable starches is becomingquite common in noodlemanufacture. Various commercialstarches were tested to see theimpact that they would have onthis type of product as well as thefresh noodles. Current Japaneseand Korean blends weremanipulated and had starchadded to quantify the effect ofadded starch. Starch levels usedwere 0, 10% and 20. Althoughgood correlation was foundbetween results for the freshnoodles, these correlations werenot as strong or were non-existentin the long life noodles. Bothnative and modified starcheswere tested, and it appeared that

the native starches actuallyperformed better than themodified ones. Thepasteurisation process used tosterilise this product appeared toeven out any differences thatwere noticeable in the freshnoodles. It was concluded thatthe use of native potato andtapioca starch appears to bemore beneficial in long lifenoodle manufacture than the useof some modified starches.

Project 4.1.9 - A specificationof wheat quality andprocessing requirements forextruded productsProject Leader: Di Miskelly

Background and Objectives The extrusion process is widelyused in the food industry becauseof its versatility and reducedcosts. Snack foods made using theextrusion process (either single ortwin screw) are increasing inpopularity worldwide.Typically,extruded snack foods are madewith maize and rice because oftheir higher expansion propertiescompared with wheat. Somewheat is used in extruded snackproducts, and where this occurs,there is a preference for lowprotein soft wheats. However, littleinformation is available on thewheat and flour quality attributes,which influence product andprocessing quality in snack foodmanufacture, or whether lowprotein hard wheat can be usedto make an acceptable product. Ifstrategies can be developed touse low protein hard wheat insnack foods, there is a majoropportunity to add value toAustralian wheats.Theinformation generated in thisproject should assist wheatmarketers, and have anapplication in the domesticmarket.

49

Fig 4.5 - Frying Instant Noodles

ProgressCommercially milled flour fromhigh protein hard wheat, lowprotein hard wheat and lowprotein soft wheat were used toproduce expanded snacks.Thesetrials were carried out in the FoodScience Australia APV Baker twinscrew extruder operating with noexternal heat input (adiabaticconditions) or with a range ofexternal heat input (non-adiabatic conditions). Expandedsnack products were analysed fordegree of expansion, specificvolume, pasting properties,texture, structure and texturalproperties.

Product characteristics werefound to vary with the extruderoperating conditions (mainlybarrel moisture content), flourprotein content and grainhardness. High protein hardwheat was found to requirehigher levels of energy comparedwith low protein hard and softwheats. Overall, the difference intexture score of the three wheattypes appeared to be minimal inboth adiabatic and non-adiabaticconditions using the twin screwextruder. Sensory analysis showedthat extruded snacks made fromlow protein hard wheat hadstronger flavour and aroma, moretoothpacking and a driermouthfeel compared with snacks

made from low protein softwheat.The low protein hardwheat appeared to have a higherpotential for producing bettertexture if external heat wasapplied. Scanning electronmicroscopy showed that thinnercell walls were formed inexpanded products using lowprotein hard wheat.

As wheat flour is normally used incombination with otheringredients to increaseexpansion, a fully commercialsnack product was producedunder optimised operatingconditions.The extruder wasoperated under adiabaticconditions and adjustments weremade to the barrel moisture. Bothlow protein hard wheat and lowprotein soft wheat flour were usedin this trial.The final product wasproduced with 70% wheat flourand 30% maize flour.The productshad similar physicalcharacteristics, and a sensorypanel was unable to distinguishbetween snacks made from hardand soft flour.

MAJOR RESEARCHMILESTONES ACHIEVED INPROGRAM 4■ Assessment of the impact of

starch granule ratio on bakingcompleted.

■ Assessment of the impact ofstarch isolated from new waxywheat cultivars on baking andnoodle making completed.

■ Rapid test for the evaluation offrozen storage shelf lifeavailable for bread doughs.

■ Benchmarking study tocompare the frozen shelf lifeof commercial croissantscompleted.

■ Assessment of the impact ofcommercial starches oninstant noodle manufactureinitiated.

■ Evaluation of starch propertiesfor their impact on instantnoodle quality initiated.

■ A method for the evaluation oflong life noodles based on alactic acid treatmentestablished.

■ Assessment of commercialstarches to improve the qualityof long life noodlescompleted.

■ Small-scale pasta extruderdeveloped as a tool forstudying the biochemicalbasis of pasta quality usingsmall quantities of semolina.

■ Differences between Italianand Australian pastasobserved by differentialscanning colorimetry.

■ Four tetraploids, identifiedfrom the 32 that wereextensively tested, have beencrossed with adapted durumsand are at the F1-F4 stages.

■ Extrusion testing andevaluation of optimumprocessing conditions forproduction of extruded wheatsnacks using a twin screwextruder completed.

50

Fig 4.6 - Scanning Electron Micrographs of three wheat types asextruded products.

LOWPRO Soft LOWPRO Hard HYPRO Hard

The focus of Program 5 onflour and dough components

and their interaction underpinsmuch of the research elsewhere inthe CRC. Its purpose is to providea basis for breeding for quality byunderstanding the relationshipbetween flour composition anddough processing properties. Muchof the enhanced understandinggenerated can be used to developbreeding targets, or fordevelopment of diagnostic testsusing antibodies and DNA probes(interactively with Program 1).

Given the variable concentrationsand high sequence homologies ofmany of the flour proteins whichare targets of these diagnosticsnew methods based on antibodyengineering are being used to

manipulate the specificity andsensitivity of assays. Several assaysfor products of key genes arealready being provided to breedingprograms for routine screening.Thetechniques developed in theProgram provide research methodsto use in a variety of applications.These include studies ondeveloping molecular markers fordough quality traits (with Program1), on the effect of environmentalgrowing conditions and grainstorage conditions on processingquality, on monitoring the changesin protein composition duringendosperm development and ondeveloping a mathematical modelto estimate the quality attributes offlour blends, as well as providingdiagnostic methods for on-farmsegregation (with Program 2).

The ability to understand the roleof individual flour polypeptides andstarch components comes aboutfrom the development of small-scale equipment for dough mixing,extension and baking.Thisdevelopment, together withresearch aimed to understand anddifferentiate dough behavior infundamental rheologicalparameters, should allow theresults of laboratory screeningtests to better predict commercialbakery performance of flours, andenable processing conditions to bemore objectively manipulated tosuit different end-products.

Finally, professional education incereal science is provided.

PROGRAM 5: FLOUR AND DOUGH COMPONENTS AND THEIR INTERACTIONProgram Manager: Dr Ferenc BékésDeputy: Ms Amanda Hill

Dr Ferenc BékésProgram Manager

PROGRAM 5 OBJECTIVES

Provide a basis for

breeding for quality by

understanding the

relationship between

flour composition and

dough processing

properties.

To study the products

of genes from sources

outside cultivated

wheat for novel effects

on dough function.

To better predict

commercial bakery

performance of flours.

To attract talented

students and to provide

industry-relevant

continuing education

for postgraduate

students and industry

professionals.

51

Fig 5.1 - The effect of protein content (A, C) and the glutenin to gliadin ration (B , D) on the viscosity offlours of cv Banks (A, B) and Rosella (C, D)

�� . � �� �2 ��

2���

.���

����

����

�� �� �� 9� .� ��

.���

����

2���

��3,�3���3���3���3�9�3

���%&�������%&�����%��!��

� . � �� �2 ��

9���

����

����

�� �� .� 2� ��

9���

����

����

�

����

����

��3,�3���3���3���3�9�3

���%&�������%&�����%��!��

� �

��

1�-��-� "�9��-:

;�%��9-: ;�%��9-:

1�-��-� "�9��-:

Program ObjectivesThe objectives of the program arefour-fold.The first is to provide abasis for breeding for quality byunderstanding the relationshipbetween flour composition anddough processing properties.Thesecond, to study the products ofgenes from sources outsidecultivated wheat, such as from theprimitive wheat, Triticum tauschii,and novel antifreeze proteins, fornovel effects on dough function.Thirdly, to better predictcommercial bakery performanceof flours, allowing processingconditions to be tailoredappropriately for different endproducts.The final objective,interactive with other researchprograms, is to attract talentedstudents and to provide industry-relevant continuing education forpostgraduate students andindustry professionals.

Project 5.1.1 - Functionalproperties of individual flourcomponents Project Leader: Ferenc Békés

Background and ObjectivesExisting approaches used torelate flour composition to doughand baking properties have majorlimitations. Statistical correlationsbetween dough parameters andgenetic composition have beendeveloped, but their reliabilitydepends on the particular sampleset.There have also beendifficulties in detectingquantitative relationships, and themechanism of effects ofparticular gene products is notexplained. In this project, twodifferent approaches are utilised.In the incorporation/addition test,the composition of a base flour isaltered systematically byenriching the flour with well-characterised individual flourcomponents, while in a new“model dough”approach, wehave been developing the

methodology for building upflours from a minimum numberof individual components.Another aim of the project is toimprove the quality of frozendough products by applyingnovel antifreeze polypeptides inthe dough formulation.

ProgressSurjani Uthayakumaran hascompleted her studies andsubmitted her PhD thesis onmonitoring the changes infunctional properties (small-scalemixing, extension and bakingstudies) and fundamentalrheological parameters caused bysystematically altering the proteincomposition to flour samples. Forthe continuation of Surjani’ssuccessful work on relatingchemical composition and basicrheological properties of wheatdough,Tasir Hubraq has beenselected to work on a new PhDproject (5.1.6.)

In the model dough approachprotein fractions have beenisolated, either from flour fromspecial null wheat lines, or fromE. coli expressing cloned gluteninsubunits, and the subunits havebeen polymerised in vitro beforedough formation. Using bulkglutenin and gliadin proteinfractions isolated from severalwheat varieties, representing awide range of allelic compositionin the starch-solubles-glutenin-gliadin system, it was found thatthe model dough system is anexcellent method to compare theeffects of proteins on doughfunctionality.

In similar experiments, starch,solubles, gliadin and gluteninfractions were isolated fromcontrol and heat-shockedsamples and flours werereconstituted, systematicallyaltering the components. Doughweakening caused by the heattreatment was clearly related to

52

Fig 5.2 - Stages of an extension experiment investigating the effectsof altering flour protein composition on rheological characteristicsof the dough.

the glutenin fraction of thesamples. In experiments tooptimise the conditions for the invitro polymerisation of HMW-GS,LMW-GS (high and lowmolecular weight gluteninsubunits), and mixturescontaining different ratios ofthese subunits, it was found thatpolymer size distributionmimicking the size range ofnative glutenin polymers can onlybe produced in the presence ofspecial compounds with chain-terminating characteristics. Forthe production of sufficientamounts of individual gluteninsubunits, clones of HMW-GS Dx5,Dx10,Dy2 and Dy12 wereexpressed in E. coli. The bacterialexpression has been successfullyscaled up to 2 litre fermentationand a protocol was developed topurify HMW-GS from lysates usinga combination of selectiveextraction and chromatography

using the highly effective POROSsystem.

The effects of eight anti-freezeproteins containing cysteineresidues to promote oxidativepolymerisation were assayed bycryomicroscopy and by small-scale dough mixing andextension testing. Oxidation of theproteins to cysteine-linkedpolymeric form had little effecton their antifreeze activities,compared to either the reducedstate or the wild-type protein.When incorporated into thedough using a reduction/oxidation protocol, no effect onthe mixing properties of doughswas seen. Addition of therecombinant antifreeze proteinsto frozen doughs at low levels(0.1% of flour mass) generallyhad little effect on the extensionproperties of simple non-yeasteddough pieces.

Project 5.1.2 - Molecularinteractions between flourcomponents Project Leader: John Skerritt

Background and ObjectivesThe extremely high molecularweight of the gluteninmacropolymer in flour anddoughs has been the majorlimitation to studying andunderstanding its central role indetermining dough-processingbehavior. In this project we areutilising two approaches to studythe polymer and its changesduring processing. These are thedevelopment and application ofField Flow Fractionation (FFF), atechnique from particle analysis,in addition to biochemicalstudies and microscopicalanalyses on changes in thestructure of this polymer duringdough processing.

53

Fig 5.3 - Mixing curves of dougs, altering the glutenin to gliadin (A) and the HMW to LMW glutenin subunit (B) ratios in model doughexperiments.

����� ��������� �����

���

���

���

������

�����

���

���

���

�

�����

�����

���

���

���

�

�����

�

�����

����

�

����� ����

���

���

���

�����

����

�

����� ����

���

���

���

�����

����

�

����� ����

���

���

���

�����

����

�

����� ����

���

���

���

�

ProgressFFF proved to be extremely usefulin the characterisation of nativeglutenin polymers, and in studieson the effects of reactionconditions for in vitropolymerisation of gluteninsubunits.This was specificallyneeded in the development ofthe model dough system (project5.1.1). Studies on reactionparameters such as monomerconcentration, the concentrationsof different oxidisers (KIO3,KBrO3, H2O2), reaction time, pHand temperature have beencompleted. FFF was found to bean excellent tool for thedetermination of the sizedistribution of polymericproteins.

A protocol and computersoftware has been developed tocalibrate FFF data to molecularsize data using proteins of knownmolecular size. At present, areliable calibration curve hasbeen developed for proteins ofmolecular weights up to 890,000,and a procedure is available toestimate larger sizes.To get moreprecise data for the larger sizeinterval, work was initiated usingDNA standards to calibrate FFFseparations in larger sizes.Tocontinue studying the role of the

size and shape of biopolymers incereal processing, a new PhDproject (5.1.9) has beenestablished.

Megan Lindsay has completedher studies and submitted herPhD thesis on investigating themolecular structure of theglutenin macropolymer (GMP),the main protein componentresponsible for the viscoelasticfunctional propertiescharacteristic of a dough.Biochemical studies have shownthat the GMP in doughs has adefined structure and specificchanges in structure occur duringdough mixing.

During the last quarter, thestructure of the GMP wasexamined. Several microscopicalapproaches were pursued to testhypotheses on the structure of theglutenin macropolymer. Initialtransmission electron microscopy(TEM) studies were conductedusing immunolocalisationtechniques to study the structureof the GMP.The pattern of goldlabelling suggested that HMW-GSform chains that develop into anetwork structure.According tothis structural arrangement, it ispossible that HMW-GS form the“backbone”of the gluten

macropolymer.The distribution ofLMW-GS was markedly different,which may account fordifferences in the contribution ofLMW-GS to dough properties.LMW-GS were evenly distributedin gluten, however, they werelocalized in discrete regions,forming clusters that varied insize.The LMW-GS is predicted tobe located on branchedstructures of the HMW-GSbackbone.To utilise thetheoretical and methodologicalachievements of this project, anew PhD project was establishedrecently (5.1.7) aiming toinvestigate the role of changes tothe structure of gluteninmacropolymer in commercialbread and low-water (noodle)doughs and products.

Project 5.1.3 - Differentiatingdough behavior at the small-scale or fundamental levelProject Leader: Nhan Phan-Thien

Background and ObjectivesDespite its obvious commercialrelevance, we know rather littleabout the behavior of doughs inprecise rheological terms.Laboratory equipment such asthe Mixograph, Farinograph andExtensograph provide empiricalrheological information on doughbehavior, but the lack ofunderstanding of fundamentalrheology of the doughs can leadto inconsistencies in doughbehavior between theseinstruments (complicatingselection in breeding programs),inconsistencies in results betweenthe laboratory and the bakery,and difficulties in understandingrelationships between flourcomposition and rheologicalbehavior.We are tackling this intwo ways, firstly by developingand utilising equipment for small-scale dough testing, and secondlyby undertaking an extensiveinvestigation of the fundamentalrheological analysis of dough.

54

Fig 5.4 - Distributions of HMW-GS (A), LMW-GS (B) and gliadins (C) in dough shown by transmissionelectron microscopy, with immunocytochemical detection.

A B C

0.5µ 0.5µ 0.5µ

ProgressA series of samples was selectedand investigated to allow directcomparison of the results ofmicro-extension tests, conductedunder conventional fixed-speedconditions, with those from testsemulating the strain regimen usedin the conventionalExtensograph, and with thosefrom extension tests usingconstant Hencky strain.Rheological measurements ontwo sets of flour samplesprovided by Weston FoodLaboratories have beencompleted.These measurementswere aimed at verifying theperformance of the tensile testingmachine (United Test Machine) athigh strain rates and thesuitability of the image analysissystem for measuring the samplediameter. Load and extensionalstress were measured as afunction of time at three differentstrain rates (0.01, 0.1 and 1 s-1 ).The usual strain-hardeningbehaviour was observed. Resultsshow that under extensionaltesting, the sample diameterfollows an interesting doubleexponential with time, and thiswill be investigated further.

In another sample set, breaddoughs were made at standardwater absorption, and oscillatoryshear, creep and yield stressmeasurements, penetrometertesting, and extensional testing onthe United Tensile Tester werecarried out. For the tensiletesting, load and extensionalstress were measured as afunction of time at two differentstrain rates (0.1 and 1 s-1 ): theusual strain-hardening behaviorwas observed.Thesemeasurements show that it ispossible to distinguish strongflours from weak ones on thebasis of the extensional viscosityand related properties, and alsoon the basis of creep compliance(a new finding). In addition, the

fundamental rheologicalproperties are being clarified witha view to mathematical modelingof bread dough.A newpenetrometer has beencommissioned and is in use aspart of the rheologicalcharacterisation of bread dough,mentioned earlier. Penetrometertesting may offer other avenues oftesting and measuring therheology of bread dough, notpreviously considered in thisgroup.

The development of a new Z-armMixer has reached a majormilestone: in collaboration withthe Hungarian partners, twomachines have beenmanufactured which give stablebase lines and mixer curves thatresemble those from largermachines.The causes of someintermittent noise observedpreviously on the recorded traceswere identified and rectified.Thetwo new instruments perform inparallel, and both show excellentperformance: compared to thetraces of a full-sized Valorigraph,the instruments are able todistinguish all common qualitytypes of European wheat flours.The development of theprototype electronics packageand computer software of theequipment and the intensiveevaluation of the performance ofthe machine on Australian wheatsare in progress.

55

Fig 5.5 - High resolution mixing curve for mathematical modelingof the mixing action Z-mixer traces.

�����&�����!;�!��

<=����!

:>!���� �

��� ���*��?= %&�� ��

?�������

@ &���@=% *���

���� ���

Fig 5.6 - Developing the small scale Z-armed mixer:Janos Varga (TUB, Budapest) and Chris Rath working on the prototypemachine (left) and a mixing curve obtained using the new equipment (right),

Project 5.1.4 - Moleculardiagnostics for wheat qualityProject Leader:Amanda Hill

Background and ObjectivesThe aim of this project is tocapture the results of researchelsewhere in the CRC throughdevelopment of simple methodsfor rapid and objective testing ofquality attributes by breedingprograms, grain growers, handlersand processors.The targets of theassays include polypeptides thatmark the presence or absence oflinked resistance genes, detectionof chromosome arms and genesdetermining grain characteristicsas well as products of specificgliadin and glutenin alleles orsubunit types.

ProgressWe have isolated monoclonalantibodies discriminating highmolecular weight glutenin BandD genome alleles related to breadmaking quality.The 2+12/5+10antibody test has been optimizedand can now be delivered tobreeding programs in a similarformat as the 1BL.1RStranslocation test.

In Michael Partridge’s PhDproject, monoclonal antibodies tounreduced glutenin and primitivewheat antigens have been raised,adding to the panel of availableantibodies which cover a range ofspecificities for HMW and LMWglutenin subunits, and the majorsubclasses of gliadin. During

development of the sandwichimmunoassays, unusually largedifferences in absorbance wereobserved with one antibodycombination.This markeddiscrimination, with zeroabsorbance for negative samples,was not linked to HMW or LMW-GS loci.The protein detected bythe antibodies has been mappedusing the Halberd x CranbrookDoubled Haploid population, andChinese Spring aneuploid lines, tothe distal end of chromosome5DS (Figure 5.7). The antibodycombination binds to a 66,000 Daalbumin purified byimmunoaffinity chromatography.The N-terminal sequence of theprotein matches sucrose synthasefrom wheat, barley, rice and maizeas well as serum albumins.Chromosome 5DS encodes theHa complex locus, which controlsgrain texture. Detection of theprotein in enzyme-linkedimmunosorbent assays (ELISAs)correlated with a significantdifference in hardness index,particle size index and waterabsorption in the Halberd xCranbrook population.Theprotein is expressed in all softwheats, including those fromHeron and Falcon crosses, andTriticum tauschii accessions.Thisfinding may represent anotherstep in understanding thecomplex biochemistry involvedin kernel texture and it will bevaluable in breeding programswhere parents of a cross havedifferent ELISA phenotypes.Theassay also provides an excellenttool for varietal identification.

The antibody engineeringresearch was focussed on theconstruction of cDNA expressionlibraries and the optimisation ofantibody selection and screeningmethods.These methods forexpression of antibody genes inbacteria are required for isolationof antibodies with newspecificities, using cDNA libraries

56

Fig 5.7 - Hardness test and two site sandwich ELISA on the Halberd x Cranbrook doubled haploidpopulation.

�0�

�0�

�0

�0�

�0�

�0�

�0�

���

��

��

��

�

�

:��!����6�!�

�; �/���/��!;����0A6/

5���-� 8 :�%-�!

-� �-����".����

$ =����:��!����6�!� (�#� �<������-

��-� �<������-

from both hybridomas and spleencells from immunised mice. Inaddition, a “colony lift”methodhas been optimized for specificisolation of single-chainantibodies (scFv) that areexpressed in bacteria atreasonable levels and arefunctional. In this assay, secretedsoluble scFv are trapped onHMW-GS- coated membranes,allowing individual bacterialclones expressing scFvs whichbind to HMW-GS to be detectedon the membrane with enzyme-labelled antibodies to a peptidetag that is co-expressed with thescFv.A number of clones havebeen characterised from twocDNA libraries and we haveisolated one scFv which bindsspecifically to HMWGS 7/8.Research to remedy theapparently broader specificity ofthe bacterially expressed scFvantibodies by expression of theseclones in a mammalian systemhas given promising results.

Kym Turnbull’s PhD project,developing molecular markers forgrain hardness and waterabsorption, involved working withBacterial Artificial Chromosome(BAC) clones to attempt to isolatethe true hardness locus and todifferentiate it from genes forother characters such aspuroindoline synthesis and GSP.Asuccessful procedure has beendeveloped to purify BAC clonesto enable them to be sequenced.Sequence data from the ends ofthree of these clones, containingcombinations of the known Halocus markers, have been used forconstruction of a BAC contiguousconstruct to screen a mappingpopulation, to examine linkage ofthe different markers with thehardness trait.

Project 5.1.5 -Characterisation andintrogression of novel storageprotein genesProject Leader: Peter Sharp

Background and ObjectivesTriticum tauschii (goat grass) isthe progenitor to the D-genome inwheat. However, in thedomestication of wheat, asignificant proportion of thegenetic variation in the seedstorage proteins derived from thiswild grass was lost.This species isthus a potentially valuable sourceof novel genetic variation asseveral gliadin and gluteninsubunits with unusualcharacteristics have beenidentified.These may be potentialsources of novel doughproperties. Since genes from T.tauschii can be introgressed intowheat either directly by widecrossing, or through thedevelopment of synthetichexaploids, the use of these linesmay provide new proteins withnovel dough properties withoutresorting to wheat transformationtechnologies.This would avoidthe accompanying concernsabout transformation efficiencyand acceptance of genetically-modified foods.

The project has severalcomponents, involving the furtheridentification of potential targetproteins through proteinelectrophoresis, HPLC andbiochemical analyses of proteinpolymer size distribution, and theintrogression of desirable linesinto selected, elite bread wheatsthrough a backcrossing strategy.

ProgressThe T1 protein of one accessionof Aegilops tauschii is anunusually high molecular weightϖ-gliadin.The aim of cloning andsequencing the gene wasdeveloped because such anunusual protein may have some

attributes that could be utilised tomodify the processing propertiesof wheat flour.The synthetichexaploid with the Triticumtauschii donor (AUS18913 xLangdon) was available for theintrogression of this protein, andwas backcrossed twice with Kiteas recurrent.This BC1 (firstgeneration backcross progeny)material was crossed to produceKite BC2 material, F1s withRAC704 and RAC746, and BC1F2material.This material is growingin the field for further crossingand selection.

The determination of the N-terminal sequence of the proteinrequired modification of theisolation technique. Thesequence was finally determinedas being significantly differentfrom the sequence determinedearlier. Interestingly, both thesequences align, in a sequencedatabase analysis, with the few ϖ-gliadin protein sequences thatexist in the literature (ϖ-2 and ϖ-3gliadins respectively). Since theproteins were prepared bydifferent procedures it is possiblethat more than one protein existsat a particular molecular weightand that the different isolationprocedures have been biasedtoward one or the other. Primersdesigned from the N-terminalsequence in the present study(T1-ϖ2), plus a primer from aconsensus C-terminal sequencebased on data from the literature,allowed PCR to be used toamplify a DNA sequence from theA. tauschii in which the T1 proteinoccurs.Although proof still needsto be obtained that the sequencebelow actually belongs to the T1protein(s) class, it is evident thatthis study is now identifying aunique seed storage protein.Further work is now underway todifferentiate among the PCRproducts based on molecularweight, and select sequences thatare 2,000 bases or longer, in order

57

to isolate the gene(s) encodingthe T1 protein.

For the introgression of the T12.4protein, the parent Triticumtauschii (CPI110750) was crossedwith bread wheat Baxter, and totwo durum lines. An amphiploidfrom the Baxter cross wasproduced. It was slightly late sothat it could not be backcrossedto Baxter. It is now being re-grown, to be available forbackcrossing to Baxter, Sunvaleand Sunbrook. PCR products fromtwo different primercombinations were isolated.Incomplete DNA sequence of oneof these confirmed that proteinT21.4 is a HMW glutenin-typegene, but does not yet enable thecomplete characterisation of theprotein.

Project 5.1.6 - The effects ofprotein composition on basicand applied rheologicalparametersProject Leaders:Roger Tanner and Nhan Phan-Thien

Background and ObjectivesNovel theoretical andmethodological knowledgeachieved to date in differentprojects is being utilised in thisnewly established project.

The first component of thisproject involves the fundamentalrheological analysis of dough.Arange of sophisticated equipmentis available, and has beenspecially adapted for doughanalyses, including: Bohlin strain-controlled rheometer with twotorsional heads; Carrimed stress-controlled viscometer; UnitedSSTM-5000 Universal Tension andCompression Testing machineand a Micro-Fourier Rheometer.The research on modeling ofdough behavior has three aims.The first is to implement anumerical model of the dough

mixing process, using theconstitutive equation developedfor bread dough, with a view toexploring the effects of parametervariations on the performance ofthe process.The second is tosimulate the drawing (extension)process in the tensiograph, andthe third, to implement transient,and three-dimensional computercodes dealing with bread doughmixing processes.

The second part of the project isa continuation of research basedupon methodology to alter theprotein content and compositionof the dough by supplementingthe flour during mixing studieswith purified protein componentsdeveloped in project 5.1.1.Thenewly established PhD project ofTaisir Hubraq is aimed at definingdirect relationships between thechemical composition of theflour and basic and appliedrheological properties of thedough. In this part of the projectthere will also be systematiccomparison of doughs producedby the small-scale and thestandard or traditional pin- and Z-armed mixers. The 2g Mixographand the prototype equipmentdeveloped in project 5.1.3 will beapplied in these studies toproduce doughs with alteredchemical composition forrheological studies. Developmentof novel, small-scale methods forconstant strain-rate dough testingis also planned.This will entaildetermination of doughparameters on established, largerscale equipment and on the new,constant strain-rate micro-extension tester.

Project 5.1.8 - Field diagnosticsfor wheat varietalidentificationProject Leader: Kevin Gale

Background and ObjectivesLast year in Australia, 91 differentwheat varieties were grown insignificant quantity.There is awheat industry requirement for arapid, high throughput test foridentification of these varieties.This will aid in the verification ofcultivar identity for royaltypayment purposes and facilitateimproved receival segregationaccording to end-use suitability.

Antibodies are at present the bestdiagnostic tools to facilitate rapidand accurate field-baseddiscrimination of proteinsdiffering by as little as one aminoacid. It is not envisaged thatseparate diagnostic antibodiesspecific for all wheat varieties willbe required for wheat varietalidentification. Instead, a panel ofantibodies which react withsome, but not all varieties will bedeveloped. If each antibody giveseither a positive or negative resultfor each variety, then for 8different antibodies, 28 (256)distinct patterns of reactivity arepossible. It is envisaged that thefinal format of the test will be theimmuno-chromatography teststrip, the format used successfullyfor the rain damage test kit.Theresults of the test would be aseries of bands (a specific bar-code) for each variety, whichwould be read by an automatedbar-code reader.

The proteins targeted willpreferably be present in themature grain and not be subjectto change due to environmentaleffects.The process for extractionwill be simple and rapid. Manyantibodies currently available willnot give plus/minusdiscrimination and may in factgive intermediate signal levels for

58

some varieties.This could beadvantageous in the laboratoryhigh-throughput ELISA testformat.Varieties could be ranked,according to the magnitude oftheir reaction, thus greatlyincreasing the discriminatingpower of each antibody. However,for a robust, field-based testsystem, a plus/minusdiscrimination (band present orabsent) is preferable.

Initially, the extensive CSIRO PlantIndustry library of anti-wheatstorage protein antibodies will bescreened for those that detectvarietal polymorphism.Thisapproach has already showngreat promise. In addition, novelprotein targets will be studiedwith the aim of developing new

antibodies that give plus/minusdiscrimination of varieties. Forexample, approximately 40% ofAustralian wheat varieties lack the4A allele of granule bound starchsynthase (GBSS). Usinginformation available in sequencedatabases, synthetic peptidesspecific for this isozyme havebeen designed. A furtherapproach to the identification ofnovel targets is through themining of expressed sequence tag(EST) libraries available throughCSIRO I.P. development. Forexample, identification of novelpolymorphic gene families maybe useful for cultivaridentification.

One outcome of this project islikely to be a high throughput,

laboratory-based ELISA for wheatvariety identification.This willthen be adapted in collaborationwith AMRAD-ICT to the immuno-chromatography test strip format.In addition, the diagnosticantibodies may have otherapplications. For example, theGBSS 4A nullallele is indicative of wheatsuitable for quality noodleproduction.The identification ofthe targets of the diagnosticantibodies is therefore importantin determining the scientific basisfor variety discrimination anddefining quality trait links withthe expression of the targetproteins.

Project 5.1.9 - Polymer sizeand shape in cereal processingProject Leader: Ferenc Békés

Background and Objectives Results from project 5.1.2 indicatethat Field Flow Fractionation(FFF) provides information onthe full molecular weightdistribution of polymericglutenin.The size distribution ofglutenin is important for qualitybread making. However, in thisrecently established PhD project,student Laila Daqiq is seekingexperimental evidence todetermine whether sizedistribution alone, or the actualthree-dimensional structure ofglutenin, is involved in wheatproduct quality.

Initial results suggest that, forstandard sets of carbohydratepolymers of determinedmolecular mass, there is a linearrelationship between mass andFFF retention time. Furthermore,carbohydrate polymers withdifferent bond types betweenglucose units may have differentretention times over the samemolecular mass range.This is thefirst evidence that FFF candistinguish differences in

59

Fig 5.8 - Method development and application of Field Flow Fractionation:A - estimating native molecular size of polymeric glutenin by extrapolating date to zero time sonication;B - the effect of iodate concentration on the size distribution of in vitro polymerised glutenins.

�

��

��

��

� � � �� ��

&=���

�

��

��

��

� � � �� ��

=����#8�%

�

��

��

��

� � � �� ��

+�� �#

�

��

��

��

� � � �� ��

)��>

�� �� ���� �%��9%��:

4� �� �����-?��-��9%1:

7�� �����!����*%"B� %&-%��%&����B$

0������!/�C

�<���#��-�>�

9�� �� ���� �%�����%��:

&����� ���� �%��9-:

0�

�0�

�0�

�0�� �� �� �� ��

� ��� ��� ����

��

��

���

� ��� ��� ����

��

��

���

:����&-&����

A����&-&����

;�%��9-:

;�%��9-:

�� �� ������??%�/2@�����??%�/2@�����??%�/2@������??%�/2@�

�����������.����

A B

biopolymers of the same massbut of different shape. It isproposed that FFF will be used torelate the shape, or the degree ofbranching of amylopectin, tostarch properties such as starchpaste viscosity and gel stability,which are important for quality.

ProgressBecause of the extremely largesize of the polymeric gluteninproteins, one of the most difficulttechnical problems in cerealscience is to extract/solubilise thetotal amount of endospermproteins from the grain withoutaltering their “native”chemicalstructure and functionality.Techniques developed to dateeither result in low extractionyield, not being able to solubilisethe large polymeric proteins, orsignificantly reduce the size ofthe proteins extracted. Using newapproaches, we aim for thedevelopment of methods forextraction of the total amount ofendosperm proteins from wheatflour and grain with no alterationin polymeric size.A set ofdetergent systems with novelchemical composition has beenapplied, for comparison of theirefficiency extracting wheatendosperm proteins. It seems,however, that even the mostsophisticated extraction systems,used successfully in differentareas in biochemistry, are not ableto solubilise wheat glutenins fully.Method development wastherefore initiated, to estimate the“native”size distribution ofpolymeric glutenin fractions ofsamples by using differentsonication time treatments, andthen extrapolating the apparentaverage molecular weights to zerosonication time.The preliminaryresults indicate that use of thisindirect methodology will enablecharacterisation of the sizedistribution of polymeric gluteninproteins.

Preliminary experiments showedthat DNA standards of knownmolecular weight could be usedfor calibration of FFF in the verylarge molecular size range whereno suitable protein standards areavailable. Different fractions fromthe FFF separations have beencollected and re-injected, to studythe effectiveness of separationusing different parameters, and toprovide data to calculate thetheoretical plate number for theFFF separation.

Project 5.2.1 - University-based training for the cerealindustryProject Leader: Les Copeland

Professional education in cerealscience, provided through thisproject, is achieved bycoordinating postgraduateprograms within the CRC,developing mechanisms forattracting outstandingundergraduates to cereal scienceand by hosting short courses forprofessionals already workingwithin the industry.This isdescribed in more detail underEducation.

MAJOR RESEARCHMILESTONES ACHIEVED INPROGRAM 5■ Effects of protein content and

glutenin to glutenin ratio onbasic rheological parametersdefined.

■ Model doughs reconstitutedwith systematically alteredglutenin to gliadin andglutenin subunit ratios.

■ Glutenin subunits produced inbacteria on a large scale formodel dough experiments.

■ Effects of novel antifreezeproteins on frozen doughquality evaluated.

■ Relationships betweenreaction conditions for in vitropolymerisation and the sizedistribution of the resulting

glutenin polymers establishedby using improved Field FlowFractionation procedures.

■ A method to estimate “native”size distribution of polymericglutenin fractions developedby using different sonicationtimes and then extrapolatingthe apparent averagemolecular weights to zerosonication time.

■ Improved understanding ofthe polymeric structure ofnative glutenin by thecombined application novelbiochemical and microscopictechniques.

■ Micro-extension testeremulating a range of constant-strain extensions appliedsuccessfully in functionalcharacterisation of floursamples.

■ Discrimination of strong floursfrom weak ones on the basisof the extensional viscosityand related properties, andalso on the basis of creepcompliance.

■ Significant progress with thedevelopment of the Z-armmixer: compared to the tracesof the full-sized Valorigraph,the instrument is able todistinguish all commonquality types of wheat flours.

■ Isolated monoclonalantibodies discriminate highmolecular weight glutenin Band D genome alleles relatedto bread making quality.

■ Results of an ELISA applying anovel antibody combination,specific to a 66,000 Daalbumin, correlated hardnessindex, particle size index andwater absorption.

■ Isolated a single chainantibody which bindsspecifically to a quality-determining glutenin subunit.

■ Developed a successfulprocedure to purify bacterialartificial chromosomes clones,to enable them to besequenced.

60

The Education and TrainingProgram spans projects across

the Research Programs, particularlyPrograms 2 and 5. Several of theseprojects are aimed at increasingawareness of the importance ofwheat quality, of its management,and of developments in wheat-quality research.To this end,workshops, seminars, displays andresource materials are developedand delivered to target audiencesincluding producers, their advisers,grain handlers and marketers.QWCRC also sponsors theattendance of key influencers in thewheat industry at Milling for non-Millers courses run by BRI AustraliaLtd. Several of these key influencershave been instrumental in settingup Wheat Quality courses forgrowers in WA.The Quality Wheatfor Quality Foods coursedeveloped independently andstaged at locations in SA,Vic., ruralNSW and Qld has been so wellreceived that expansion will benecessary. It serves as excellentpreparation for the extensionpackages being developed tocommunicate the outcomes of theCRC’s research.

The consumer-driven requirementfor quality assurance of producewill also be served well by thegrower awareness we are raisingthrough these courses.Anationwide project on qualityassurance on-farm has commenced,and our CD-ROM on grain storageon-farm, which promotes HazardAnalysis Critical Control Points(HACCP) -based managementpractices, is due for release inspring 1999.

Industry-relevant postgraduate andcontinuing education helps toattract researchers and maintaintheir focus. In support of this aim,we also conduct a program ofworkshops and symposia forundergraduates and graduates inscience/ agricultural science, andemployees in the cereal industrywith an appropriate technicalbackground and experience.

Program ObjectivesQuality Wheat CRC aims todevelop a well-trained and highquality technical and professionalworkforce that can contributeeffectively to the wheat industry.This means ensuring informationon best practice, researchoutcomes and market awarenessis available to growers, advisers,handlers, processors,manufacturers and researchers. Itis a two way process and involvesmonitoring developments acrossthe industry, distilling relevantresource materials, and mostimportantly, building an effectivetrainer and adviser network foreffective information flow.QWCRC grants postgraduatescholarships and vacationstudentships to attract newresearchers to the industry acrossdiverse fields includingagricultural and food sciences,and molecular and mechanicalengineering.

Grower and AdviserTraining Program:Program 2: Growing AndStoring Quality WheatProgram Manager: Bob CracknellDeputy: Colin Wrigley

Project 2.2.1:Value addedtraining for key influencersProject Leader: Jim Vandore

Background and ObjectivesWheat quality information will bedisseminated better through theindustry if key influencers in thevalue-adding chain understandthe total process from grower toconsumer.To expose such keyinfluencers to the demands of themarket place in terms of theneeds and requirements of flourmillers and manufacturers ofconsumer products, the CRCsponsors places on BRI’s Millingfor non-Millers course. Milling fornon-Millers is designed tofamiliarise participants withwheat quality evaluation and howdifferences in wheat qualityinfluence the milling process.Different quality specificationsexist for various products, andawareness will assist producersand breeders to targetappropriate goals. Havingdeveloped the network of keyinfluencers, Quality Wheat CRCaims to maintain contact withthem to enhance theeffectiveness of information flowfor new developments across theindustry. The resourcesdeveloped to date and thedelivery methods will be

EDUCATION AND TRAININGProgram Co-ordinator: Clare Johnson

Clare JohnsonProgram Coordinator

OBJECTIVES

To develop a well-

trained and high quality

technical and

professional workforce

that can contribute

effectively to the wheat

industry.

To grant postgraduate

scholarships and

vacation studentships

to attract new

researchers to the

industry across diverse

fields, including

agricultural and food

services, and molecular

and mechanical

engineering.

61

Testing Dough Strength

described under the followingprojects in this section.

Progress Quality Wheat CRC sponsored theattendance of 10 “key influencers”on BRI Australia’s Milling for non-Millers course run in May 1999.Attendees included staff of AWBLtd, NSW Agriculture,AgricultureWestern Australia, the LeslieResearch Centre,Toowoomba,Victorian Institute for DrylandAgriculture, and the SouthAustralian Research andDevelopment Institute.Supervisors of two PhD studentsof the CRC,Andrew Verrell andKym Turnbull, requested that theyalso attend.As the course is ofdirect relevance to their researchinto wheat quality and grainhardness, respectively, anadditional two positions weresupported.

The opportunity for hands onexperience is one of the keyattractions of the course. It makesthe reasons for millers’ grainquality requirements clear tocourse participants, not only forbread, but for a variety of endproducts.This can haveramifications for growers in thevarieties chosen, and the way thecrop is managed.As is usual for this course, whichis regarded highly in the industry,excellent feedback was receivedfrom attendees. For Steven Pennyof Agriculture WA, for example,the content will provide moredetail for the Wheat QualityCourses in which he assists (seeproject 2.2.2). Now that a suite ofresource materials has beenproduced through project 2.2.3,there will be more emphasis ondelivering the informationthrough networks of farmadvisers.Those key influencersQuality Wheat CRC has supportedon this course will form animportant part of this process.

Project 2.2.2: Quality wheatfor quality manufacturedproductsProject Leader: Jim Vandore

Background and ObjectivesProgressive personnel in farmingwho know about the processor’sneeds can therefore makedecisions based on anappropriate level of knowledge.Through short courses in wheatprocessing, wheat farmers andstaff from associated industriesare shown how and why wheatquality factors influence endproduct quality.Around 20growers, bulk handlers and farmadvisers attend each course,which includes ‘hands-on’ trainingin wheat quality evaluationrelating to particular endproducts.The value of this togrowers is that they can see whatmarkets their wheat ends up inand the reasons for certainreceival standards. Most growersare surprised to learn that only20% of total production remainsin the domestic market.The restof Australian wheat ends up ineverything from middle easternflat breads, to Chinese steamedbreads and Japanese noodles.Variety plays a large part indetermining the end use for thegrain produced.The importanceof this decision for marketingbecomes clear to wheat growers.

Progress Word is spreading on the highlyrelevant courses for progressivefarmers, advisers and grainhandlers,“Quality Wheat forQuality Foods”and “WheatQuality - Understanding MarketRequirements” – so much so thatthe number of courses to beoffered over the next year willalmost double, with a moreportable version now travelling toeven more regional centres.

62

Fig 6.1 - Pooled Survey Results:Quality Wheat For Quality Foods CoursesTo what extent have you used training from the following modules of thecourse in your work?

Wagga Wagga 10-11 June 1998 and Adelaide 25-26 June 1998Surveyed: 32 Responses: 14

Wheat Quality Course: Northam 28-29 July 98Surveyed: 19 Responses: 8

������������������������������������������� �����������������

������������������ ��

���������������������������������

������������������ ��

�����������!��������������

�� ��-�<��"@A ������ ��(� �%=�8(� �� ����

�����������"������#����������������

This year, courses have been heldin Northam (July 28-29, 1998 andFeb 25-26, 1999) Adelaide (March17-18, 1999),Wagga Wagga (June23-24, 1999) and are planned forvenues including Northam (July29-30, 1999), the Eyre Peninsula(July 8-9, 1999),Walgett (July 29-30, 1999), and also Horsham,Tamworth,Toowoomba,Condobolin, and Coonamble, atdates to be determined. Stafffrom local mills,AgrifoodTechnology,AWB Ltd, the stateagriculture departments and BRIAustralia Ltd contributepresentations and organisation tothese courses.

In follow up surveys, courseattendees said they appreciatedmost the opportunity to gain anunderstanding of their state’swheat markets, end-userrequirements, the relevance oftesting, and varietal, soil andweather influences.

Excellent tours conducted by thestaff of facilities such as Westons’Mill in Northam are a real help togrowers’ understanding of thequality the end users are lookingfor.

Resources developed underproject 2.2.3 are enhancing thecourses.As the new milling videois now available for use, we canovercome the difficulty hearingexplanations due to the highnoise levels on mill tours, and ithas also become possible toconduct the courses in locationswhere there is no mill. Questionsof best agronomic practice toachieve desired protein levels areaddressed in part by distributingthe excellent QWCRC-supportedpublications by Michael Wurst,PIRSA: Managing Wheat forQuality, and NitrogenManagement for Wheat andMalting Barley, to attendees. Factsheets explaining issues to dowith receival standards and

recent developments fromQWCRC are also distributed atthese courses.

Project 2.2.3:Wheat qualityinformation for producers,agronomists and grainmarketersProject Leader: Clare Johnson

Background and ObjectivesThrough this project we aim toprovide growers and agronomistswith information on wheat qualityand receival testing, and toprovide them with CRC researchoutcomes so that they are betterable to manage crops to produce,in a cost-effective manner, grain ofthe quality required by their endusers. Grain growers arecontacted directly and throughfarm advisers, agronomists andspecial interest groups. Methodsinclude development of bookletssummarising agronomicinformation, particularly resultingfrom QWCRC-supported research.Displays and brochures are alsodesigned for use at field days andGRDC grower education days, andfor distribution in the courses andfocus groups in projects 2.2.2 and2.2.5. Development of slide sets,videos and the web site assistagronomist education on specificquality issues.Articles publishedin farm journals are an importantmeans of reaching both growersand advisers.Attention is alsopaid to building an effectivenetwork of farm advisers foreffective information flow.

Progress It has been a very productiveyear, with a suite of extensionresources developed and moreplanned.The factsheets providinganswers to frequently askedquestions on quality testing havebeen in demand by growers andagronomists on courses and atopen days and field days aroundthe country, as interest in quality

increases.The excellent QWCRC-supported publications byMichael Wurst, PIRSA: ManagingWheat for Quality, and NitrogenManagement for Wheat andMalting Barley, are also indemand, as they provide criticallyevaluated details of bestagronomic practice to achievedesired protein levels. Fact sheetsexplaining recent developmentson Prime Hard in the South andGrading Frost-damaged Wheat forProfitability are being produced.

The video The Art and Science ofFlour Milling has been completedand provided to extension staffand BRI experts for use intraining courses. Sales throughindustry and educationalinstitutions are contributing tocost recovery. Slide sets nearingcompletion describe laboratorytest methods for the evaluation ofwheat quality. Each test isdescribed, with photos of theequipment.There are also slidesets defining the product, majormarkets, production methods andwheat quality requirements forAsian noodles, pan breads andflat breads.

At Field Days in WA, agronomistsfeatured a QWCRC-supportednoodle wheat package.The WAteam will expand over the nextyear. NSW Agriculture agronomistscoordinated completion of thePrime Hard in the South package,due for release in spring, andhave also coordinated groups forquality awareness and qualityassurance. PhD student andagronomist,Andrew Verrell, wasan invited speaker on an AGnVETseries of nitrogen managementworkshops in Northern NSW.TheGRDC northern update at Dubbowas attended to network and tobalance the focus.

The web site (www.wheat-research.com.au)has been updated to contain

63

Demonstration of bread qualityobtained from different grades of wheatand from rain damaged wheat;WestonMilling Test Bakery

Michael Wurst Booklet Covers

much more information aboutthe research, publications andproducts of QWCRC, in additionto education and traininginformation and answers tofrequently asked questions onreceival testing.

PublicationsAn integrated series of articleswas published in Kondinin’s farmjournal, Farming Ahead. Kondinin,with a membership exceeding20,000, maintain a reputation forimpartial critique of agriculturalindustry resources and services.This series provides a valuablearchive of QWCRC’s currentwheat quality information. Morerecent developments are alsobeing publicised in industryjournals such as Australian Grainwhich will assist us in reaching allTopCrop members.

Project 2.2.4 - Maintaininggrain quality during on-farmstorageProject Leader: Graeme Matheson

Background and ObjectivesIncreasingly, growers are storinggrain on farm, whether for short,or for extended periods of time.This may be for seed, feed orharvest efficiency, and it can alsobe a way of adding value to thefarm business, giving growers theoption to sell some of their grainwhen prices are favourable. Grainmust be maintained in peakcondition, with little wastage dueto inappropriate practices, ifstorage is to be worthwhile. Foodsafety standards of end usersmust also be met.There is a lot ofscope to control critical levelsthrough best practice grainstorage and transport.WithOrange Agricultural College,QWCRC is producing a CD-ROMfor growers, advisers andeducators, offering the necessaryinformation on storagemanagement for maintenance ofgrain quality. In line with the QA

principles defined by QualityFarms Australia, food safety issuesin storage are dealt with on theCD, and a grain storage riskmanagement process based onHACCP principles is promoted.Current Rural training Council ofAustralia (RTA) competencystandards are also listed to assistcourse design.

ProgressThe CD-ROM, Managing on-farmgrain storage - Effective practicesfor the delivery of quality assuredproducts, was assembled byprinciple author David Webley, aconsultant with AWB’s AgrifoodTechnology, in collaboration withstaff of Orange AgriculturalCollege, who also provided the ITarchitecture and instructionaldesign.The modules comprisingthe CD provide backgroundinformation on all practicalaspects of grain storage: fromreceival standards, storagestructures, pest identification andcontrol alternatives, to inspectionand sampling, grain hygiene, on-farm safety, grain qualitymanagement on-farm, marketrequirements and storageeconomics.

The CD also gathers together listsof industry contacts andregulatory information, to makethings as smooth as possible forinterested growers. Use of HACCPprinciples (a risk managementprocess used in QA for foodsafety) is suggested as a basis for

designing best practice grainstorage, taking conditions on theparticular farm into account.Aseries of quizzes is providedthroughout the CD to helpgrowers to check what they havelearned, so as to help them plantheir grain storage strategy fortheir own circumstances. Updatesand useful sites are available byhotlink for those users who havean Internet connection.In the interests of providing thebest possible resource, manyorganisations and individualsgenerously provided material forinclusion on the CD. Once a betatest version had been assembled,copies were circulated to a groupof 20 industry specialistsnationwide for review.Theircomments and suggestions werecatalogued and responses wereincorporated systematically intothe CD by the team at QWCRC,OAC and the author. Navigationaids, an index and a glossarywere added, a cover bookletcontaining use notes wasdesigned and promotional flyersand a poster were produced.Adetailed article was published inFarming Ahead in June 1999.

Coordinators of the GRDC grainstorage extension workshop, heldin March 1999, invited ademonstration of the CD.ThisQWCRC resource, due for releasein spring, will provide consistent,detailed information for thenational strategy for safe andeffective grain storage.

64

Managing on-farm grain storage CD-ROM:Effective practices for the delivery ofquality assured products, a valuable newresource for growers and advisors.

INTEGRATED SERIES OF ARTICLES IN KONDININ’SFARMING AHEAD

1. Pre-harvest Test can Help Boost Returns (WheatRiteRain Damage Test Kit) (Sept 98 FA 81:57-58)

2. Choosing Wheat to Meet Market Demands (Jan 99 FA 85: 47-48)

3. Prime Hard Wheat - Increasing Grain Protein Levels for Export; (Feb 99 FA 86: 46-47)

4a. Nitrogen- Early nutrition builds grain protein; (April 99 FA 88: 55-57) and

4b. Simplified nutrient budgeting in northern regions (April 99 FA 88: 58)

5. New releases - Wheat varieties target niche markets (May 99 FA 89: 59-60)

6. Manage on-farm storage for a market edge (June 99 FA 90:59- 63)

Project 2.2.5 - NationalQuality Assurance on-FarmProject Leaders:Di Miskelly and Bob Cracknell

Background and Objectives Quality assurance programs arebecoming an accepted part offood processing.This has followedfrom the changes in food hygieneregulations put in place byAustralian and New Zealand FoodAuthority (ANZFA), which willrequire everyone involved in foodmanufacture and food handlingto have in place food-safety plansbased on HACCP (HazardAnalysis Critical Control Points).Implementation of HACCP plansis necessary to ensure thechemical, physical andmicrobiological safety of all foodproducts.As a consequence ofthe increasing emphasis on foodsafety, food processors are nowbeginning to require qualityassured raw materials, whichpasses some of the requirementsfor food safety back down thefood chain to primary producers.

In 1997, the QWCRC completedthe major report of the QualityWheat project, which was fundedby DIST (Department of Industry,Science and Tourism) and co-ordinated by SGS Australia Pty Ltdand the Meyers Strategy Group.This project developed systemsfor quality assurance across allsectors of the wheat industry, fromgrowing to milling.The currentproject builds on this work, withthe aim of tailoring systems toquality-wheat production inspecific regions, andimplementing quality-assuranceprograms by pilot grower groups.

Progress A number of planning meetingswere held with projectcollaborators, with the aim ofsetting up pilot grower groups in1999.As an outcome from themeetings, it was agreed that there

was a need for a clear andconsistent message to growersregarding the advantages to begained from quality assurance on-farm.The initial impetus foradoption will come fromdomestic buyers and millers.TheFlour Millers Council of Australiahas come out strongly in favourof both the quality and food-safety aspects of qualityassurance. Growers delivering tothe export market will also beencouraged adopt on-farmquality-assurance systems.

The initial quality-assurancemanual, developed inconjunction with Agriculture WA,has been extensively revised andsimplified.The “Great Grain”program has been developed byQuality Wheat CRC, PulseAustralia and the AustralianOilseed Federation to provide aco-ordinated approach to theimplementation of on-farmquality-management practices inthe grains industry.The “GreatGrain”manual is structured toenable the adoption of qualitypractices by grain growers at theappropriate level required.Theseinclude food safety, deliveryquality and customer qualityrequirements.The revised QAsystem is concise and verystreamlined, predominantly usingdocumentation growers alreadykeep, and tying it together, sothose who follow best practicewill find that QA accreditation islargely simply getting recognitionfor what they are doing already.

Key collaborators within theproject have attended a trainingcourse on implementation of the“Great Grain”quality program,conducted by Pulse Australia.Thiswill facilitate implementation ofprograms being run with pilotgrower groups this season.Animportant part of the project hasbeen liaison with Quality FarmsAustralia through attendance at

meetings of their OperationsCommittee.This committee waschaired by QWCRC BusinessManager Alan Ellis, and resultedin the formation of three workinggroups to report on issues ofimplementation, training andauditing.The total exercise hasbrought together all relevantparties in production andprocessing to advance theadoption and harmonisation ofnational on farm qualityassurance.

University-BasedEducation andProfessionalDevelopment Program:Project 5.2.1: University-basedtraining for the cereal industryProject Leader: Prof. Les Copeland

Background and ObjectivesIndustry-relevant postgraduateand continuing education isnecessary, to attract and maintaina well-trained and high qualitytechnical and professionalworkforce who can contributeeffectively to the wheat industry.The target groups of thiseducation project areundergraduates and graduates inagricultural science or science,and employees in the cerealindustry with an appropriatetechnical background andexperience.

ProgressUndergraduate ProgramsAn undergraduate scholarship of$6000 per annum awarded to MsSarah Peel assists with her studytowards a BSc in Agriculture atSydney University. She hasremained the top student in heryear.

65

Summer Students 1998/99Following a competitiveapplication process, QWCRCawarded vacation scholarships to8 students this year (Table 6.2).All of the projects had a strongindustry focus.The studentsachieved excellent results andproduced impressive reportswhich were distributed tointerested project managerswithin QWCRC.This scheme is anexcellent means of attractingstudents to the industry, andprovides an opportunity forexploratory work or completionof data analysis to be done forthe host organisations.A call for projects usually occursin August, and studentships areadvertised on the Web site (www.wheat-research.com.au)and by flyer distribution inSeptember.

Postgraduate studentsDuring 1998/99 there were fifteenpostgraduate students in the CRC(Table 6.3) as three new studentscommenced.The number ofexternally funded studentssupervised by CRC secondeesdropped to three, as two hadcompleted their studies (Table6.4). Nine students have justcompleted, or are due tocomplete their studies in the nearfuture. Four new GRDC-sponsoredstudents studying pentosancontent and water absorption,protein glycation, and geneticvariation and large-grained wheatfor high milling yield are due tocommence in July 1999, andthree studentships in rain damagemodelling, micronutrient effectson wheat flour quality and novelstorage proteins were approved inthe current annual operatingplan.

Matt Hayden will remain inQWCRC on a GRDC postdoctoralscholarship and SurjaniUthayakumaran will also remain,having commenced a one yearpostdoctoral position with Prof.Roger Tanner at Sydney University.Those students currently due tocomplete their work are alsonegotiating postdoctoralpositions.

Postgraduate Workshops andthe Professional EducationProgramThe postgraduate workshoporganised for July 1998 wascombined with a symposium,entitled “Wheat Proteins andDough Properties”, attended byseveral industry participants inaddition to Quality Wheat CRCstaff and students. In theremainder of the workshop, thefocus was on communications,grant applications, studentpresentations and feedback.Students found the assistancevaluable for their presentations atseminars and conferences, andfor written presentation, researchrecord management and personalmanagement skills.

A similar workshop, focussing ondietary fibre is planned for July1999. Industry staff have shownstrong interest in this subject, andwill be referred to expert sourcesto keep up to date after theworkshop.A session onintellectual property will also beincluded for the postgraduatestudents.

Quality Wheat CRC co-sponsoreda Masterclass, Biotechnologies infood processing and their impacton crop production, held overthree weeks in July 1998. Itprovided extensive coverage ofrelevant biotechnologies, andtheir potential in food processingand breeding, production andmarketing programs. Hands-onexperience in areas of DNA and

66

TABLE 6.2 SUMMER STUDENTS 1998/99

Student Project Title Supervisor Location

Bradley Schultz Portable automatic bread weighing machine Thomas Adamczak BRI Australia Ltdand weight tracking system for commercial bakeries.

Ayla Pelit Texture analysis of baked products. Di Miskelly Goodman Fielder

David Appels The effects of freezing on noodle quality, and Naz Azudin Agrifood Technologydetermining factors.

Wendy Leung Investigation of biaxial stretching of bread dough: Roger Tanner University of Sydney(a) Effects of lubrication in biaxial

extension measurements; and(b) Computer simulation of squeeze film flow.

Keith Leong (a) Dough rheology of heat treated flours; and Elizabeth Hocking Weston Food Laboratories(b) High speed dough tester trial

Vanessa Yu / WheatRite: John Skerritt / CSIRO Plant IndustryKate McDonald (a) Analysis of within and between paddock Russell Heywood(Combined) variation in sprouting;

(b) Suitability of WheatRite test to monitorpreharvest sprouting in barley; and

(c) Assessing grower responses to newtest for pre-harvest sprouting.

Chris Moore Breeding soft biscuit wheats for the Lindsay O’Brien I.A.Watson Grainsnorthern wheatbelt. Research Centre, Narrabri

67

TABLE 6.3 POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS

Student Degree University Project Supervisor Date Due

Patricia Chong PhD ANU Structure of glutenin macropolymer in bread / noodle Dr Ferenc Bekes & 06/2002doughs and products Prof.Adrienne Hardham

Laila Daqiq PhD Sydney Polymer size and shape in cereal processing Dr Ferenc Bekes & 01/2002Dr Fred Stoddard

Taisir Hubraq PhD Sydney The effects of protein composition on basic and applied Dr Ferenc Bekes & 01/2002rheological parameters Prof. Roger Tanner

Matt Hayden PhD Sydney Udon noodle quality: genetic factors Dr Peter Sharp 02/1999 Thesis submitted

Megan Lindsay PhD Sydney Protein-protein interactions in doughs Dr John Skerritt & 02/1999Dr Robyn Overall Thesis submitted

Kevin Liu PhD Sydney Fluid mechanics and dough rheology Dr Nhan Phan-Thien 06/1999

Dennis Murray M.Ag. Sydney Role of hydrogen bonds in dough rheology Dr Ferenc Bekes & 11/1999Prof. Les Copeland

Marcus Newberry PhD Sydney Dough process control Dr Nigel Larsen & 02/2001 Dr Nhan Phan-Thien

Michael Partridge PhD Sydney Development of antibody probes for glutenin subunits Dr John Skerritt & 03/1999Dr Daryl Mares +3 mth ext.

Jaswinder Singh PhD Sydney Probe for water- and salt-soluble grain proteins Dr John Skerritt & 03/1999Dr Peter Sharp +3 mth ext.

Daniel Skylas PhD Sydney Reducing effects of heat stress on wheat quality Dr Caron Blumenthal & 10/2000Prof. Les Copeland

Kym Turnbull PhD Sydney Molecular markers for grain hardness and water absorption Dr Sadiq Rahman & 07/2000Dr Peter Sharp

Surjani PhD Sydney Function of individual flour component in processing Dr Ferenc Bekes & 03/1999Uthayakumaran Prof. Don Marshall Thesis submitted

Andrew Verrell PhD Sydney Wheat quality and yield in Northern Australia Dr Lindsay O’Brien 02/2001

Steven Zounis PhD NSW Frozen dough products Dr Ken Quail & 06/1999 Dr Mike Wootton

TABLE 6.4 EXTERNALLY FUNDED POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS SUPERVISED BY CRC SECONDEES

Student Degree University Project Supervisor Date Due

Nicole Kerr M. Ag. Sydney Prime Hard Quality Dr Lindsay O’Brien Chose not to complete

Gasiram Rema M.Ag. Sydney Effects of starch granule size distribution on noodle quality Dr Hon Yun & 12/1999Dr Bob Caldwell

Zhao Xiaochun PhD Sydney Waxy wheat lines Dr Peter Sharp 07/1998

antibody technologies, cerealchemistry, instrumentation andcomputer analysis featured on thecourse. Nominees were selectedpartly on the criterion that theyshould be in a position torecommend and implement suchtechnologies in various aspects ofthe industry. Several QWCRCnominees attended, including DrFred Stoddard, University ofSydney, Dr Nasir Azudin,AgrifoodsTechnology, Ms Kathy Haigh,Weston Food Laboratories, and MsMonica Solichien, nominated bythe Director, Corp R&D, Indofood.

An additional workshop,Molecular Techniques for RapidWheat Breeding, held in February1999, was presented by QWCRCstaff and secondees, with guestspeaker Brad Walsh from theAustralian Proteome Facility.Thisworkshop was extremely wellreceived by students and staffattending.A total of 46 staff andstudents attended (5 fromAgriculture NSW, 3 each fromArnotts, BRI and SydneyUniversity, 17 from CSIRO, 9postgraduate students, anHonours student and a summerstudent, and 3 staff from QWCRCCentre).The course notes havesubsequently been requested bysenior staff of Agriculture WA.

Future plans include a rheologyworkshop, site visits to GoodmanFielder plants for pasta and buns,and a workshop on enzymesrelevant to wheat products.

MAJOR MILESTONESACHIEVED IN EDUCATIONAND TRAINING PROGRAM

Grower and Adviser TrainingProgram ■ Attendance of 10 key

influencers and severalpostgraduate students at theMilling for Millers Course.

■ Five wheat quality coursesheld at regional centres in WA,SA and NSW, with a furthertwo planned for early July.

■ Published integrated series of6 articles on wheat qualityissues in Kondinin’s FarmingAhead.

■ Expanded and distributedsuite of resources to industryand growers; includes flourmilling video, booklets onwheat quality and nitrogenmanagement (PIRSA), noodlewheat package (WA), andupdated factsheets andposters. Expanded network offarm advisers and influentialgrower groups in severalstates.

■ Booklet on producing PrimeHard in the South ready forpublication.

■ Participated in GRDC grainstorage extension work partyand in several GRDC GrowerEducation programs and fielddays/agricultural shows in WAand NSW.

■ Updated web site, includingcurrent Annual Report,commercialisation andeducational and scholarshipinformation.

■ Grain storage CD-ROMcompiled with assistance ofOrange Agricultural College,reviewed by industry expertsnationwide; revised version forrelease in spring 1999.

■ Industry workshops held todiscuss common approach toon-farm quality-assurancesystems.

■ “Great Grain”manual onquality assurance for graingrowers has been completed.

University-based andProfessional EducationProgram ■ Provided 8 vacation

scholarships this year,exceeding the minimumrequirement of 5 scholarships.

■ Conducted workshops onWheat Proteins And DoughRheology, and MolecularTechnologies For The WheatIndustry.

■ Conducted postgraduatesymposium and workshop oncommunication skills in thecontext of the cereal industry.

■ Sponsored Crawford FundMasterclass onBiotechnologies in foodprocessing and their impacton crop production.

68

The creation of the CRC waspartly a response to

perceptions of fragmentation inresearch and education services; aproduct of distance, focus andculture which are particular to thewheat industry in Australia.Thestructure of the Centre is designedto overcome this fragmentation byestablishing a co-operative culturebetween the participants, whilstretaining a focus on commerciallyvaluable outcomes.

To achieve its goals, the CRC isstimulating fundamentalimprovements in the collaborativearrangements covering research,education, technology transfer andcommercialisation throughout theindustry. Without wishingnecessarily to expand the scope ofits own activities, the CRC mustact as a catalyst to improvecontacts, information flow andcollaboration between scientificand industrial groups.

Use of the research byParticipants.A good indication of our progressin this area has been theincreased involvement of industryscientists and technologists (iethe users of the science) inmanaging the progress of Centreprojects. CRC secondees andother staff from all of ourcompany Participants - Arnott’s,Goodman Fielder and Weston’s, aswell as from AWB Ltd and theGRDC were involved in steeringthe following projects, forexample:

■ the soft wheat breedingproject and the project todevise testing procedures forbreeders to use in all stages ofbiscuit wheat breeding(project 1.1.4);

■ a new project (1.1.12) toextend the soft wheatbreeding program to theSouthern region has cash andin-kind support from Arnott’sBiscuits, involvement fromBunge/Defiance (nowGoodman Fielder) and GeorgeWeston Foods;

■ the evaluation of the “waxy”wheat (Programs 1 and 4);

■ the project to determine thegrain storage factors thatinfluence flour quality(project 2.1.1/6) -Bunge/Defiance, GoodmanFielder and George WestonFoods have been active in thisproject;

■ the “Prime Hard in the South”project (project 2.1.2) whichhas involved, inter alia, anumber of fertiliserdistributors;

■ the WheatRite project (2.1.3);■ the flour blending part of the

Flexibility of Wheat Useproject (2.1.5);

■ the mill microbiology project(3.1.4) - this project involvesFood Science Australia staff;the first example of a whollyCentre-funded projectemploying scientists not partof any Participantorganisation;

■ an on-going project (3.1.5),also widely supported byindustry Participants, to studynovel approaches to thecontrol of mill performance;

■ the oven technology project(3.4.2). Cost reductions fromthe use of our process controlhardware and software in asingle bakery were estimatedby its managers at a $75,000per annum reduction inproduct waste and “giveaway”;

■ the newly accepted GRDCproject on strategies to replacecake flour chlorination (towhich the Centre hascontributed $30K, Program 4) -this project has strong industryparticipation and

■ the fundamental doughrheology project (project5.1.3).

This list is longer than last year’s.The continued improvement hasresulted in part from thecontinued participation by moresenior research managers fromindustry. Of the eleven managersand deputies in the SeniorManagement Group three arecurrently employed incommercial Participants’businesses.This includes a seniorindustrial scientist who is giving

50% of her time to themanagement of the Centre.

Use of the research by groupsoutside the Centre andoverseas.We have significant new linkswith CSIRO Entomology Division(Stored Grains ResearchLaboratory) in the grain storageproject (2.1.1/6). In thedevelopment of our strategies forcommercialisation of ourgermplasm we are discussinglinks with several commercialentities, and have made newresearch links with Hybrid WheatAustralia/Sunprime Seeds andMonsanto (USA). Evaluation of alarger sample of “waxy”wheat(Programs 1 and 4) wasconducted by a non-Participantcompany as well as byParticipants in the CRC and thisprovided evidence of newprocessing benefits to be derivedfrom this type of product.We havesupplied immunoassay-based test-kits to wheat breeders at theCentro Internacional deMejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo(CIMMYT - Mexico City) as wellas Australian wheat breeders fortheir use in rapid identification ofa quality character (for the ryechromosome translocation“1B/1R”) in early breeding lines.The total number of tests rose tonearly 9000 (5.1.4).The WheatRiterain-damage test kit wasevaluated successfully andextensively by growers throughoutthe country and also used bybreeders around Australia todetect germplasm showing the“late maturity a-amylase”defect.Interest in the test has beenreceived from all round theworld. International interest hasalso been expressed in the newtype of small-scale dough mixingmachine we have built in aresearch project (5.1.6) with theHungarian Institute for R&D(OMFB). Increasing numbers ofQuality Wheat for Quality Foodscourses were given in the wheat-producing States not representedin the CRC – Queensland,Victoriaand South Australia (2.2.2).TheQuality Farms Australia initiativenow includes Pulse Australia, the

69

Australian Oilseeds Federation,the Australian Cotton IndustryCouncil and the Grains Councilof Australia.A quality assurancescheme,“Great Grain - QualityAssurance for Grain Growers”, hasbeen produced in this jointinitiative. It is being piloted by anumber of grower groups aroundthe country so that refinementscan be made.The Wheat QualityAssurance project (2.2.5) willcontinue to validate and improvethe above program materialwhere appropriate over thecourse of the 1999/2000 season.

Links with research groupsoutside Quality Wheat CRC havealso been established throughGRDC-funded research projectscomplementary to CRC-fundedwork. In the year under review wehave been successful in applyingfor and/or setting up and/orrunning the following projects,involving groups from outside theCentre.This again is a longer listthan last year:

■ Amelioration of GeneticFactors which Result inDowngrading of Wheat atReceival (1996 application forfunding by CRC project leaderDr Daryl Mares involvingscientists from QueenslandDPI; project now in progress);

■ The Chemical and GeneticBasis of Noodle Quality(Project in progress, co-ordinated by CRC programmanager Dr Ken Quail andinvolving scientists fromVictorian Institute for DrylandAgriculture (VIDA) and fromSA);

■ Flexibility of Wheat Use (1996application co-ordinated byCRC secondees Drs JohnOliver and Colin Wrigley,contracted through the Centre,also involving scientists fromVIDA,Agriculture Victoria,SARDI, University of Adelaide,and from Queensland DPI.This project is now in progressas 2.1.5).

■ A project to develop high-protein wheat genotypes for Sand W regions (co-ordinatedby a scientist from SARDI

successfully applied for during1997/8 and now on-going).

■ An extension to the “PrimeHard in the South”project,which has involved a widerange of groups (project 2.1.2)was successfully run last year.

■ The newly accepted (in1998/9) GRDC project toidentify key qualitycharacteristics required bybread manufacturers using thesponge and dough process (towhich the Centre willcontribute $23K, Program 4).This involves extensivecollaboration with the LeslieResearch Institute, QueenslandDPI.

Commercialisation of theresearch.The strategy based on thecreation of a company, QWInvestments Pty (QWIP), to attractoutside investment to, andmanage, the development andcommercialisation of Centreinventions has continued in amodified form. In the absence ofoutside funding, the Boardapproved the use of Centre fundsto progress the WheatRite kit(maximum exposure $135,000).There has been a successful fieldtrial (test marketing) of the kit.News about the test has travelledwidely and it is generating a greatdeal of interest.A survey ofgrowers gave a 20% response ratewith more than 82% saying theywould use the test and pay atleast $6-10 for it.An agreementhas now been signed with thenational distributor of theWheatRite kit, Graintec ofToowoomba. Negotiations havecontinued with Amrad-ICT tocomplete a manufacturingagreement. Production of the firstbatch of kits has been completedfollowing receipt of an order fromthe distributor.There have beenlengthy delays in the provision ofthe prototype reader from theUnited States.

The Board of the Company hasapproved a continuing strategyfor the commercialisation of theCentre’s intellectual property (IP)outcomes that are in the form of

germplasm (wheat geneticmaterial).This IP needs to beincorporated into new wheatvarieties.The Board mandatedmanagement to discuss withcompanies suitable strategicalliance(s). Many discussionshave taken place with a widerange of companies. Manycompanies in Australia andworld-wide are trying to positionthemselves for the introduction ofidentity-preserved, biotechnologybased wheat products.There is aneed for a commercially runwheat breeding programme inAustralia with the resources tobring QWCRC’s germplasm (andthat of other germplasmproviders) to the market. QWCRCis strategically positioned to beinvolved in these changes inAustralia, with its focus onproducts ready for the market inthe next few years.

Quality Farms Australia (QFA)includes Quality Wheat CRC,Pulse Australia, the AustralianOilseeds Federation, theAustralian Cotton IndustryCouncil and the Grains Councilof Australia. QFA has discussedand agreed on the major topicsconcerning the implementationof uniform quality assurance(QA) protocols.The progress ofQFA was announced by TomBolton (Chairman) at GrainsWeek in Perth (mid-April) wherethere was general support shownfor the adoption of QA on-farm.The accelerated update of ourQA program has now beencompleted. Interested growerswill now have access to acomplete QA program for theforthcoming season.To speed updelivery, Pulse Australia willmarket and support the Wheat QAprogram through their “GreatGrain”concept.A per capitapayment will be made to QWCRCfor the use of our sourcematerials. It is anticipated thatone thousand growers will adoptthe program within the nexttwelve months.A contract withPulse Australia has now beensigned.

70

The Centre continues toattract and retain high quality

staff.As at 30 June 1999, theCentre had 4 full-time and 1 part-time Headquarters staff. Inaddition, there are some 145professional research staffseconded from their employers orpaid for by the Centre. Their workis central to the activities ofCentre. The percentages of each ofthese researchers’ time allocatedto the Centre is listed in Fig 7.1.

ResearchSix Program Managers supportedby deputy program managerscontinue to efficiently managethe day to day running of theCentre’s five research programs.

Education,Training andCommunicationThe Centre’s Education andTraining program which is spreadacross all five programs iscoordinated by Clare Johnsonwhilst the Communicationsfunction is coordinated by HelenWarwick.

Business ManagementAlan Ellis is responsible for thefinancial function, companysecretarial duties,commercialisation of Centre I.P.and management of the wheatquality assurance program.

71

PROGRAM MANAGERS

Program 1 Professor Don Marshall

Program 2 Mr Bob Cracknell

Program 3a Ms Di Miskelly

Program 3b Dr Nigel Larsen

Program 4 Dr Ken Quail

Program 5 Dr John Skerritt

DEPUTY PROGRAM MGRS

Program 1 Dr Lindsay O’Brien

Program 2 Dr Colin Wrigley

Program 3b Ms Kathy Haigh

Program 4 Dr Mike Sissons

Program 5 Dr Ferenc Békés

FIGURE 7.1 SPECIFIED PERSONNEL

Name Contributing Organisation % of working time Role in Centre

Dr William Rathmell CRC Wheat Quality 100% Managing DirectorProducts and Processes

Prof. Don Marshall The University of Sydney 50% Program 1 Manager

Mr Bob Cracknell AWB Ltd 20% Program 2 Manager

Dr Nigel Larsen Crop & Food International 80% Program 3B Manager

Ms Di Miskelly Goodman Fielder Ltd 60% Program 3A Manager

Dr Ken Quail BRI Australia Ltd 80% Program 4 Manager

Dr John Skerritt CSIRO Plant Industry 90% Program 5 Manager

Dr Ferenc Békés CSIRO Plant Industry 90% Deputy Manager Program 5

Dr Colin Wrigley CSIRO Plant Industry 20% Deputy Manager Program 2

Dr Lindsay O’Brien The University of Sydney 45% Deputy Manager Program 1

Dr Mike Sissons NSW Agriculture 60% Deputy Manager Program 4

Dr Daryl Mares The University of Sydney 80% Sub-program Leader

CRC Headquarters Staff

The QWCRC Website can be found at:www.wheat-research.com.au

PUBLICATIONSPublications, Public Presentations, PublicRelations and Communication.

SCIENTIFIC JOURNALSGiersch TM, Hill AS, Skerritt JH. (1999)Development of a Panel of Specific MonoclonalAntibodies to High Molecular Weight GluteninSubunits and their application in genetic screening.Cereal Chemistry, 76: 380 - 388

Lindsay MP, Skerritt JH. (1998). Examination of thestructure of the glutenin macropolymer in wheatflour and doughs by stepwise reduction.Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry,46, 3447 - 3457

Lindsay M P, Skerritt J. (1999).Immunocytochemical localization of glutenproteins uncovers structural organization of theglutenin macropolymer.Cereal Chemistry (Submitted)

Lindsay M P,Tamas L,Appels R, Skerritt J H. (1999).Direct evidence that the number and location ofcysteine residues affect glutenin polymerstructure.Journal of Cereal Science (Submitted)

Mohammadkhani A, Stoddard FL, Marshall DR.(1998). Survey of amylose content in Secalecereale,Triticum monococcum,T. turgidum and T.tauschii.Journal of Cereal Science 28: 273 - 280.

Mohammadkhani A, Stoddard FL, Marshall DR,Uddin MN, Zhao X. (1999). Starch extraction andamylose analysis from half seeds.Die Stärke/Starch 51: 62 - 66.

Mohammadkhani A, Stoddard FL, Marshall DR.(1999). Amylose content in segregatingpopulations of einkorn, emmer and rye.Die Stärke/Starch 51: 66 - 73.

Richardson E, Kaiser A. (1999) Physicalproperties of frosted wheat and its nutritive value.Australian Grain,Vol 9, No 3: 28.

Shariflou MR, Sharp PJ. (1998). A polymorphicmicrosatellite in the 3’ end of waxy genes ofwheat (Triticum aestivum).Plant Breeding, 118: 275 - 277

Sissons MJ, Osborne BG, Hare RA, Sissons SA,Jackson R. (1999). Application of the single-kernelcharacterization system to durum wheat testingand quality prediction.Cereal Chemistry (S)

Sissons MJ, Blundell MJ, Hill AS, Skerritt JH. (1998).Antibodies to N-terminal peptides of low Mrsubunits of wheat glutenin: 1 Characterisation ofthe antibody response.Journal of Cereal Science (in press)

Sissons MJ, Hac L, Skerritt JH. (1998).Antibodies toN-terminal peptides of low Mr subunits of wheatglutenin: 2. Detection of subunits encoded bydifferent loci.Journal of Cereal Science (in press)

Skerritt JH, Hac L, Bekes F. (1998).Depolymerization of the gluten macropolymerduring mixing: 1. Changes in levels, molecularweight distribution and overall composition.Cereal Chemistry, 76: 395 - 401

Skerritt JH, Hac L, Lindsay MP, Bekes F. (1998).Depolymerization of the gluten macropolymerduring mixing: 2. Differences in the retention ofspecific glutenin subunits.Cereal Chemistry, 76: 402 - 409

Skerritt JH, Heywood RH. (1999). A 5-minute fieldtest for on-farm detection of pre-harvestsprouting in wheat.Crop Science (submitted)

Solomon RG,Appels R. (1998). Stable, high levelexpression of a type I antifreeze protein inEscherichia coli.European Journal of Biochemistry (sub)

Stoddard FL. (1999) Variation in grain mass, grainnitrogen, and starch B-granule content withinwheat heads.Cereal Chemistry 76: 139 - 144

Stoddard FL. (1999). Survey of starch particle-sizedistribution in wheat and related species.Cereal Chemistry 76: 145 - 149

Uthayakumaran S, Gras PW, Stoddard FL, Bekes K.(1999) Effect of varying protein content andglutenin-togliadin ratio on the functional prpertiesof wheat dough.Cereal Chemistry 76: 389 - 394

Veraverbeke WS, Larroque O, Bekes F, Delcour JA.(1999). In Vitro polymerisation of wheat gluteninsubunits with inorganic oxidising agents. I.Comparison of ‘Single Step’ and ‘Stepwise’oxidations of high molecular weight gluteninsubunits.Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (in press)

Veraverbeke WS, Larroque O, Bekes F, Delcour JA.(1999). In Vitro polymerisation of wheat gluteninsubunits with inorganic oxidising agents. II.‘Stepwise’ oxidations of low molecular weightglutenin subunits and a mixture of high-and lowmolecular weight glutenin subunits.Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (in press)

Verity CK, Hac L, Skerritt JH. (1999).Development of a field ELISA for detection ofalpha-amylase in preharvest-sprouted wheat.Cereal Chemistry, (in press)

Zhao XC, Sharp PJ. (1998) Production of all eightgenotypes of null alleles at ‘waxy’ loci in breadwheat,Triticum aestivum L.Plant Breeding, 117 : 488 - 490

FARM/INDUSTRY JOURNALSBekes F, Gras PW. In vitro studies on glutenprotein functionality.Cereal Foods World (in press)

Johnson C, Ronalds J, Hall G. (1999). Choosingwheat to meet market demands.Farming Ahead, 85: 47 - 48

Johnson C, Hall G. (1999). Prime Hard Wheat -Increasing grain protein levels for export.Farming Ahead, 86: 46 - 47

Johnson C,Webley D, McKinnon D. (1999).Manage on-farm storage for a market edge.Farming Ahead, 90: 59 -63

Kerr N. Quality Assurance: (1997) QualityAssurance: Grain farm pilot studies begin.Australian Grain,Vol 7: No 2. p61

Kerr N. (1998) Wheat growers trial on-farmquality assurance.Australian Grain, Vol 7: No 6. p34

Lafiandra D, Masci S, Blumenthal C,Wrigley CW.The formation of glutenin polymer in practice.Cereal Foods World (in press)

Mrva K, Mares D. (1999). Cool temperaturetreatment of intact plants or detached tillersstimulates. Expression of Late Maturity a-Amylasein Wheat.Euphytica, (in press)

Mrva K, Mares D. (1999). Regulation of high pI a-amylase synthesis in wheat aleurone by a gene(s)located on chromosome 6B.Euphytica, 109: 17 - 23

O’Brien L, Sharp P, Stoddard F. (1999). Newreleases - Wheat varieties target niche markets.Farming Ahead, 89 : 59 - 60

Rathmell WG,Wrigley CW. (1998).Wheat qualityimprovement via the work of Australia’s QualityWheat Cooperative Research Centre.Cereal Foods World,Vol. 44, 363 - 366

72

PATENT PORTFOLIO

Title Application No Country Filing Date

Discrimination of glutenin subunits PP5548 Australia 28/08/98

Detection of preharvest sprouting in cereal grains PP7058 Australia 11/11/98

Method for identifying useful polymorphic markers Australia Waiting

Food colouring and method for producing same PCT/AU99/00193 International 19/03/99

TRADE MARK PORTFOLIO

Title Application No Country Filing Date

WHEATRITE in Class 1 771211 Australia 24/08/98

WHEATRITE in Class 1 1004419 Canada 05/02/99

WHEATRITE in Class 1 1063858 European 03/02/99

WHEATRITE in Class 1 75/637035 USA 10/02/99

© Quality Assurance Program

73

Skerritt JH, Heywood RH, Ronalds J, Johnson C.(1999) Trials show pre-harvest test works well inthe field.Australian Grain,Vol 9, No 3: 38 - 40

Skerritt J. (1998). On-farm testing. Pre-harvesttest can help boost returns.Farming Ahead, 81: 57-58

Verrell A, Doyle D. (1999). Nitrogen - Simplifiednutrient budgeting in northern regions.Farming Ahead, 88: 58.

Wrigley CW, Bekes F. Glutenin-protein formationduring the contimuum from anthesis toprocessings.Cereal Foods World (in press)

Wrigley CW, Rathmell WG. (1999). Qualitywheat for Australia; the achievements of theQuality Wheat Cooperative Research Centre.Food Australia, 51: 152 - 153

Wrigley, C.W. (1999). Methods for establishingdistinctness of cereal-grain genotype in cultivarregistration.Plant Varieties and Seeds, (in press)

Wrigley CW. (1999). Potential methodologies andstrategies for the rapid assessment of feed-grainquality.Aust. J.Agric. Research, 50 (5): 789 - 805

Wurst M, Johnson C. (1999) Nitrogen - Earlynutrition builds grain protein.Farming Ahead, 88 : 55 - 57

CONFERENCE PAPERSAllen H,Angus J, Oliver J. High quality, highprotein wheat in southern Australia.48th Australian Cereal Chemistry Conference,Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998.

Appels R. Molecular Breeding: exploitingbiotechnology in developing improved cereals.Invited paper to be presented at the:AACCConference, Minneapolis. USA. July 1998.

Batey IL, Cornish G, Heiskanen P. Effects ofinteractions between protein and starch onviscosity measured by the Rapid Visco Analyser. InCereals ’98. Proc. 48th Australian CerealChemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20August 1998: 367 - 371.

Batey IL. Thermal analysis of wheat starch withdifferent granule bound starch synthase alleles.48th Australian Cereal Chemistry Conference,Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20August 1998.

Bekes F, Gras PW. In vitro studies on glutenprotein functionality. AACC Conference,Minneapolis. USA. July 1998.

Bekes F, Larroque O, Hart P, O’Riordan B, MiskellyD, Baczynski M, Osborne B,Wrigley CW. Non-Linear behaviour of grain and flour blends madefrom dissimilar components. In Cereals ’98. Proc.48th Australian Cereal Chemistry Conference,Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998: 123 - 127.

Berghoffer LK, Jansson EJ, Hocking AD.Comparison of Methods for the Detection ofColiforms and E. coli in Food samples.

Blanchard CL, Rylatt D, Manusu HP,Wrigley CW,Gras P, Skerritt JH, Bekes F. Preparation of amodel dough with purified protein fractions. InCereals ’98. Proc. 48th Australian CerealChemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20August 1998: 17 - 21.

Cornish GB, Bekes F, Larroque O,Appels R. Therelationship between allelic composition ofglutenin subunits & functional properties. InCereals ’98. Proc. 48th Australian CerealChemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20August 1998: 536 - 539.

Ellis A, Cracknell RL, Heywood R, Skerritt JH.Asimple test card for rapid testing of alpha-amylasein rain-affected grain. ICC Conference in Valencia,Spain. June 1999.

Ellis A, Heywood R, Skerritt JH. Use of theWheatrite test card to minimise the effects of raindamage at harvest. ICC Conference in Valencia,Spain. June 1999.

Fearn T, Osborne BG. Prediction of flour waterabsorption from other flour properties. In Cereals’98. Proc. 48th Australian Cereal ChemistryConference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998:439 - 442.

Gianibelli MC, Larroque OR, Chan P, Margiotta B,De Ambrogio E, MacRitchie F, Lafiandra D. Effectof allelic variants at the GLI-1/GLU-3 and GLI-2loci on dough mixing properties. 9th InternationalWheat Genetic Symposium. Canada. 2nd August1998.

Gras PW, O’Riordan B. Why wheat qualitychanges in storage. In Proceedings of theAustralian Postharvest Technical Conference,Canberra. 26 - 29 May 1998: 259 - 262.

Hill AS, Giersch TM, Loh CS, Skerritt JH.Recombinant antibodies in agriculturalimmunodiagnostics. 4th Asia Pacific Conferencefor Agricultural Biotechnology, Darwin,Australia.13 - 16 July 1998.

Hocking A, Berghofer L, Jansson E, Miskelly D. Themycology of flour milling. Australian Society forMicrobiology Conference. Hobart,Tasmania. 28September 1998.

Johnson MC,Wrigley CW, Rathmell W. Researchachievements to benefit the Australian wheatindustry: the work of the Quality WheatCooperative Research Centre. In Cereals ’98.Proc. 48th Australian Cereal ChemistryConference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998:529 - 531.

Lafiandra D, Masci S, Blumenthal C,Wrigley CW.The formation of glutenin protein in practice.AACC meeting, Minneapolis. USA. 13 - 17September 1998.

Larroque OR, Islam N, Bekes F. Comparisonbetween electrophoretic and chromatographicmethods for the analysis of gluten proteins duringgrain development. Australian ElectrophoresisSociety. 5th Annual Conference. MacquarieUniversity, Sydney,Australia. 15 - 16th October1998.

Li X, DePalo A, Ross DS, Dines J, O’Brien L, ShahSH, Brown G, Bell J, Bariana H.Test bakeperformance of soft biscuit wheat breeding linesgrown in Northern NSW. In Cereals ’98. Proc.48th Australian Cereal Chemistry Conference,Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998: 238 - 240.

Lindsay MP,Tamas L,Appels R, Skerritt JH. Subunitcysteine residue location affects gluteninmacropolymer structure. ASBMB/ASPPConference. Adelaide,Australia. 28 September to1st October 1998.

Lindsay MP,Tamas L, Hines E, Craig S,Appels R,Skerritt JH. Microscopical examination of theglutenin macropolymer structure in wheat flourdoughs. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48th AustralianCereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17- 20 August 1998. 59 - 62.

Marshall DR, Shah SH, O’Brien L, Boyacioglu H.Quality variation among soft wheats derived fromthe CIMMYT program. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48thAustralian Cereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998. 241 - 243.

McCarthy B, Giersch TM, Skerritt JH, Hill AS.Antibody Engineering to Alter Antibody Specificity.Lorne Protein Conference. 7th February 1999.

McCarthy BJ, Giersch TM, Skerritt JH, Hill AS.Antibody engineering to alter recognition of highlyhomologous proteins. Advances in DiagnosticTechnologies Conference. Melbourne,Australia.April 1999.

Mohammadkhani A, Stoddard FL, Marshall DR.(1999). Starch extraction and amylose analysisfrom half seeds. Proceedings of the EleventhAustralian Plant Breeding Conference,Adelaide 2:261-264.

Murray DJ, Bekes F, Gras PW, Copeland L, SavageAWJ,Tatham AS. Hydrogen bonding and thestructure/function relationships of wheat flourgliadins. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48th AustralianCereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17- 20 August 1998. 12 - 16.

O’Brien L, Shah SH, Brown G, Bell J, Bariana H,Dines J, DePalo A, Li X. Relationships betweensmall and large scale quality test values among softwheat breeding lines grown in northern NSW. InCereals ’98. Proc. 48th Australian CerealChemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20August 1998. 236 - 237.

Osborne BG. Improved NIR prediction of flourstarch damage. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48thAustralian Cereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998. 434 - 438.

Partridge MAK, Blundell MJ, Skerritt JH. Antibodyprobes for unreduced glutenins. In Cereals ’98.Proc. 48th Australian Cereal ChemistryConference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998.35 - 40.

Plaut Z, Blumenthal C, Gras PW,Wrigley CW.Drought stress and wheat quality. In Cereals ’98.Proc. 48th Australian Cereal ChemistryConference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998.63 - 66.

Plaut Z, Blumenthal C, Gras PW,Wrigley CW.Variations in dough quality due to the effects ofwater stress during grain filling. 1998 AACCMeeting, Minneapolis, U.S.A.

Rathmell WG,Wrigley C. Research achievementsto benefit the Australian wheat industry; the workof the Quality Wheat CRC Limited. 1998 AACCMeeting, Minneapolis, U.S.A.

Rathmell WG. Options for the commercialisationof improved grains. GCA-GRDC ConferenceProceedings, Progressing Grain Crop Improvementfor a New Millennium. Canberra,Australia. 8thSeptember 1998. 32 - 34.

Rema G,Yun H, Quail K, Caldwell RA.Fractionation and reconstitution techniques tostudy the effects of flour components on noodlequality. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48th AustralianCereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17- 20 August 1998. 193 - 195.

Safari-Ardi M, Phan-Thien N,Tanner RI.Elongational, viscometric and high-shear-strainstress relaxation properties of wheat flour doughs.48th Australian Cereal Chemistry Conference,Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998.

Shah SH, O’Brien L, Brown G, Bell J, Bariana H,Dines J, De Palo A, Li X. Development of RustResistant Soft Biscuit Wheats for NorthernAustralia. Australian Plant Breeding Conference.Adelaide, 19 - 23 April 1999.

Shah SH, O’Brien L, Gras PW, Li X, De Palo A,Ross DS, Dines J. Heritability of small scale testprocedures used in soft wheat evaluation. InCereals ’98. Proc. 48th Australian CerealChemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20August 1998. 234 - 237.

Shah SH, O’Brien L, Grown G, Bell J, Dines J, DePalo A and Li X. Development of rust resistantsoft biscuit wheat for northern Australia.Australian Plant Breeding Conference. Adelaide,Australia. 19 - 23 April 1999.

Shah SH, Stoddard FL, O’Brien L, Marshall DR.Water-use efficiency of addition and translocationlines of Rye Chromosome 2 in three wheatcultivars. Australian Plant Breeding Conference.Adelaide,Australia. 19 - 23 April 1999.

Shariflou MR, Sharp PJ. A polymorphicmicrosatellite in the 3’ end of waxy genes ofwheat (Triticum aestivum). Wheat GeneticsSymposium. Canada. 2 August 1998.

Singh J, Sharp P, Blundell MJ, Skerritt JH. antibodyprobes for non-storage proteins and mapping ofwheat chromosomes. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48thAustralian Cereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998. 46 - 52.

Singh J, Skerritt J. Antibody development to non-gluten protein markers for wheat chromosomes.Australian Plant Breeding Conference. Adelaide,Australia. 19 - 23 April 1999.

Sissons MJ, Batey IL, Hare RA, Egan N.Tetraploidwheat - a potentially useful resource for thegenetic improvement of durum quality. In Cereals’98. Proc. 48th Australian Cereal ChemistryConference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998.145 - 149.

Sissons MJ, Osborne BG, Sissons SA, Jackson R,Hare RA, McKenzie EA. Application of the singlekernel characterisation system to durum qualityand semolina mill yield prediction. In Cereals ’98.Proc. 48th Australian Cereal ChemistryConference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998.140 - 144.

Sissons MJ, Osborne BG, Sissons SA, Hare RA,Jackson R. Durum wheat selection using the singlekernel characterisation system.Australian PlantBreeding Conference,Adelaide,Australia. 19 - 23April, 1999.

Skerritt JH, Hac, L, Heywood R, Kooij P, Sissons MJ,Ellison F, Kammholz SJ. Oliver J. Genetic andbiochemical studies of varietal interchangeability athigh protein levels. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48thAustralian Cereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998 380 - 385.

Skerritt JH. (1998). Improved wheat utilisation indeveloping countries: Research needs andopportunities in postharvest wheat productquality. Proceedings of the 1997 GASGAExecutive Seminar (Group for Assistance onSystems relating to Grain After Harvest),ArawangPress, Canberra,Australia.

Skerritt JH, Hill AS, Heywood R,Wesley I,WrigleyC, Bekes F, Gras PW. “Stored product qualitystandards” 7th International Working Conferenceon Stored-product protection, Beijing, China.October 1998.

Skerritt JH, Sissons MJ, Hill AS, Blundell MJ, Hac L.Low molecular weight glutenin sequence families:A new way of classifying these major glutencomponents. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48th AustralianCereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17- 20 August 1998. 53 -58.

Skylas DJ, Blumenthal C, Larroque O,Wrigley CW,Bekes F, Gras PW, Copeland L Rathmell W. Heat-stress during grain filling. 48th Australian CerealChemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20August 1998. 91 -95.

Skylas DJ,Walsh BJ, Harry J, Nouwens A,Blumenthal C, Larroque O, Bekes F,Wrigley CW,Copeland L. Changes in grain-protein compositiondue to heat stress of immature wheat. AustralianElectrophoresis Society Meeting at MacquarieUniversity. Sydney,Australia. 15 - 16th October1998.

Southan MD, Batey IL, MacRitchie F. Fractionationof wheat endosperm proteins by flow FFF. FieldFlow Fractionation Conference, Salt Lake City,Utah. 8 - 11 February 1998 and 48th AustralianCereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns, Qld,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998.

Stoddard FL. Starch B-granule content : anendosperm - determined trait. Ninth internationalWheat Genetics Symposium, Saskatoon, Canada. 2- 7 August 1998.Vol 4: 273-275.

Stoddard FL. Starch B-granule content: anendosperm-determined trait. Australian PlantBreeding Conference. Adelaide,Australia. 19 - 23April 1999.Vol 2: 174-175.

Turner NE, Bason ML, Uthayakumaran S, Bekes F,Wrigley CW, Blakeney AB. Measuring glutenquality in flour - A novel method using the RapidVisco Analyser. 1998 AACC Annual Meeting.Minneapolis, USA. 13 to 17 September 1998.

Turner NE, Bason ML, Uthayakumaran S, Bekes F,Wrigley CW, Blakeney AB, Zhu J, Huang S, O’BrienL. Using the rapid visco analyser to measurewheat-gluten flour quality. In Cereals ’98. Proc.48th Australian Cereal Chemistry Conference,Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998. 348 - 351.

Uthayakamaran S, Southan M, Larroque O, Bekes F.Comparison of the size of wheat endospermproteins by SE-HPLC, multi-stacking SDS-PAGEand FFF. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48th AustralianCereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17- 20 August 1998. 74 - 78.

Uthayakumaran S, Gras PW, Bekes F, Gianibelli C,Laroque O,Appels R. Altering protein content andcomposition in small-scale functional studies. 9thInternational Wheat Genetic Symposium. 2 - 7August 1998.

Uthayakumaran S, Gras PW, Bekes F. A systematicstudy of the wheat storage proteins and theirfunctionality. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48th AustralianCereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17- 20 August 1998. 150 - 155.

Uthayakumaran S, Safari-Ardi M, Phan Thien N,Bekes F. Effect of varying protein content andglutenin-to gliadin ratio on elongational propertiesof wheat doughs. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48thAustralian Cereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998. 83 - 86.

Uthayakumaran S,Wesley IJ, Bekes F, Osborne BG,Skerritt JH. Near infrared spectral differencesbetween gliadin and glutenin proteins. In Cereals’98. Proc. 48th Australian Cereal ChemistryConference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998.79 - 82.

Wrigley CW. 1998. Contributions by Australiansto grain quality research. In:“The AustralianGrains Industry”. Proceedings of a workshop.ABBlakeney and L O’Brien (Eds). Royal Aust. Chem.,Instit., Melbourne.Australia. (in press).

Wrigley CW, Bekes F. The significance of glutenin-protein formation during the continuum fromanthesis to processing; discussion opener. AACCConference, Minneapolis. July 1998.

Wrigley, C.W. (1999). Australian experiences incarrying research innovations to world markets.In:“Innovations from Research to Companies inthe Food Sector”. Report of the European UnionADAPT Program on a Conference held on March11, 1999, in Trolleholm, Sweden. Swedish Universityof Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. 29-34.

Zhao XC, Shariflou MR, Good G, Sharp PJ.Developing waxy wheat cultivars:Wx null allelesand molecular markers. Proceedings of the 9thInternational Wheat Genetics Symposium,August1998. Saskatoon, Canada. 1: 254-256.

Zounis S, Quail KJ,Wootton M. Evaluation ofphysical dough tests for assessment of frozendough stability. In Cereals ’98. Proc. 48thAustralian Cereal Chemistry Conference, Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998. 204 - 208.

74

75

CRC TECHNICAL REPORTSCRC Project Report No 13. Heywood R, SkerrittJ. Evaluation of Immunochromatography Devices.July 1998. (Confidential).

CRC Project Report No 14. Symposium - WheatProteins & Dough Properties. 15th July 1998.

CRC Project Report No 15. Newberry M.Bubbles in Food Conference, 9-11 June 98.

CRC Project Report No 16. Osborne B, Fearn T,Blakeney J. On Line Monitoring of Flour StarchDamage by NIR. October 1998. (Confidential).

CRC Project Report No 17. Johnson C. ProgramReview for Industry. October 1998.

CRC Project Report No 18.Wrigley C, CracknellR, O’Brien L, Quail K. International CerealChemistry:The 1998 Meeting of the AmericanAssociation of Cereal Chemists. October 1998.

CRC Project Report No 19. Southan M. PilotMilling Studies. December 1998. (Confidential)CRC Project Report No 20. Johnson C. Grantsrelevant to the Wheat Industry - CoveringIndustry, Students and Travel. December 1998.

CRC Project Report No 21.Allen HM,WrigleyCW,Apps J. Prime Hard in the South - The 1998Season. Proceedings of a one-day workshop.February 1999.CRC Project Report No 22. Johnson C.Workshop: Molecular Technologies for the WheatIndustry. 19th February 1999.

CRC Project Report No 23. Larsen N, MacKay F,Henderson M,Wilson A. Application ofUltrasound to Dough Processing - ExperimentalResults. March 1999. (Confidential).

CRC Project Report No 24.Wrigley CW.Innovations from Research in the Food Sector inEurope: Report on a visit to Sweden. March 1999.

CRC Project Report No 25. Li Xia. Test BakingResults for Flour Samples Received from theUniversity of Sydney, Plant Breeding Institute,Narrabri. March 1999. (Confidential)

CRC Project Report No 26. Johnson C. VacationScholarships 1998/99 - Summer Student Reports.April 1999.

CRC Project Report No 27. Cracknell R,WrigleyC. Tools for Achieving Wheat-Quality Targets.Proceedings of a Wheat CRC Workshop. 17thMarch 1999.

BOOKSO’Brien L, Blakeney AB, Ross AS,Wrigley CW.(Eds) Book of 590 pages. Cereals ‘98;Proceedings of the 48th Australian CerealChemistry Conference. 17 - 20 August 1998.

Rathmell W, Bekes F. (1998) Strategy of breedingprograms, including genetic transformation,approach and results in Australia. Proc. 16th ACCMeeting,Vienna.Austria. JW van der Kamp and RNChibbar, (Eds). 22 - 31.

BOOKLETSAllen H. (Ed) (1999). Australian Prime HardWheat in South-Eastern Australia. “A Growers’Guide”. Published by NSW Agriculture.

Wurst M. (Ed) (1999). Managing Wheat forQuality. “Farmer Handout”. Published by PrimaryIndustries and Resources S.A.

Wurst M. (Ed) (1999). Nitrogen Management forWheat and Malting Barley. “Farmer Handout”.Published by Primary Industries and ResourcesS.A.

THESESCristina Gianibelli, (1999). New Proteins forImproving Wheat Quality. PhD Thesis, Universityof Western Sydney, School of Horticulture,Hawkesbury, NSW Australia, June 1999.

Xiaochun Zhao, (1999). Molecular and functionalstudies of granule-bound starch synthase in wheat.PhD Thesis,The University of Sydney, NSW,Australia, March 1999.

Xia Li, (1999). Effects of Protein Composition onSoft Wheat Quality in Northern New SouthWales. PhD Thesis,The University of Sydney,Faculty of Agriculture, Plant Breeding Institute, I.A.Watson Wheat Research Centre, Narrabri, NSWAustralia, March 1999.

NEWSLETTERSQuality Wheat CRC Industry Newsletter. July1997. Issue 1.

Quality Wheat CRC Industry Newsletter.December 1998. Issue 2.

PUBLIC SEMINARSNewberry M, Phan-Thien N,Tanner R, Larsen N.“Man cannot live by bread alone”. SydneyUniversity Engineering: Meeting Australia’s Needs.Sydney University,Australia. 4th November 1998.

Skylas D. Proteome Analysis of Wheat and effectsof heat stress. Australian Proteome AnalysisFacility. Macquarie University, NSW,Australia.24th June 1999.

Wrigley CW. Contributions by Australians tograin quality research. Lecture at Australian GrainIndustry, 48th Aust Cereal Chemistry Conference.Cairns,Australia. 17 - 20 August 1998.

Wrigley CW. Contributions by Australians tograin quality research. Lecture at the 5th PacificRim Confrence of AACC. 15 August 1998.

OTHER PUBLICATIONSRichardson E, Kaiser A. Physical properties offrosted wheat and its nutritive value for ruminants.Media release to local papers and television. 23rdJune 1999.

Ronalds J. (1999). The Art & Science of FlourMilling (Video).

AWARDSDuring the year under review the Centre

or Centre staff/secondees received the

following awards:

■ Mr Bob Cracknell, Manager of Program 2,became president of the International CerealChemists Association.

■ John Ronalds received the RACI CerealChemistry Division Founders Award inrecognition of meritorious service to thecereal industry.

■ Dr Kevin Sheridan, Director, was awarded theAO in the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

■ Dr Chris Hudson, Director, was appointedAdjunct Professor in the Faculty of NaturalResources (Department of Agriculture andVeterinary Science) at the University ofQueensland. He was also appointed to theBoard of the Australia and New Zealand FoodAuthority (ANZFA).

■ Mr Chris Rath, Dr Rudi Appels, Dr FerencBékés and Dr Peter Bras from CSIRO Divisionof Plant Industry jointly received an award forExcellence in Research from the Chief of theDivision.

■ John Skerritt was chosen as the 1999 recipientof the Bruce Wasserman Young Investigator’sAward presented in recognition of outstandingcontributions to cereal science in the area ofbioechnology.

GRANTSAdditional grant monies were provided by

GRDC during the year for research on:

■ Flexibility of Wheat Use$288,611

and

■ Amelioration of genetic factors which result in down-grading of wheat at receival$167,581

Quality Wheat CRC is clearly meeting andexceeding the performance indicators

required by the Commonwealth Agreement thatset up the Centre. Progress is reported belowagainst each indicator for the first four years.More detail of progress made in the last year is,of course, to be found in the relevant section ofthis Annual Report. (The indicators have beengrouped together where they have overlappingscope. New criteria - indicated with an asterisk -have also been added to reflect the CorporateStrategy drawn up in 1998.The first three years’progress reports are as they appeared in lastthree Annual Reports.)

1. COOPERATIVE ARRANGEMENTS

An appropriate mix of staff, in terms ofdisciplines and sub-disciplines, function etcand a mix from the participants,particularly at the North Ryde, Canberraand industry sites.The interchange ofpersonnel among different sites within theCentre.

■ Year 1: Particularly good examples of cross-site and cross-discipline mixing are to befound in sub-programs 1.7 (NZ Crop &Food,Weston’s, BRI and other participants’staff) and 2.3 (Small-scale mixing andbaking research at CSIRO N Rydeinteracting with the breeding program inSydney University - sub-program 1.3 - andwith Arnott’s).

■ Year 2: A major example of cross-site andcross-discipline interchange is in project1.3.2 (the soft wheat germplasm project)which involves staff from all four companyParticipants’ sites, CSIRO North Ryde andtwo sites in Sydney University. Otherexamples are too numerous to list fully; theproject to develop mill systems to controlstarch damage (and hence waterabsorption and ingredient cost - project1.6.2) and the project to determine thegrain storage factors that influence flourquality (project 2.3.3) also involvedmultiple discipline and site collaboration;in the latter case from three CSIRO sites,Sydney University and several industrialsites.

■ Year 3:The above examples are continuing;prominent new projects with such cross-siteinteraction are:! Mill microbiology (Project 3.1.4 involving

Food Science Australia, BRI Australia,Goodman Fielder, Bunge Defiance andWeston’s);

! Extruded products (Project 4.1.9 involvingFood Science Australia, Goodman Fielderand AWB Ltd) and

! Quality Wheat for Quality Products Course

(Project 2.2.2 involving AWB Ltd,AgrifoodTechnology, BRI Australia,Agriculture WA,the Centre for Agribusiness Marketing,NSW Agriculture,Weston’s, among others).The examples continue to be too many tolist fully.

■ Year 4: Again there are several prominentnew projects with cross-site interaction thathave been included in the budget.Meanwhile most of those initiated inprevious years have continued:! A project (1.4.1) to extend the soft wheat

breeding program to the Southern region,(this has cash and in-kind support fromArnott’s Biscuits, involvement fromBunge/Defiance (now Goodman Fielder)and George Weston Foods, and theresearch is being conducted by theUniversity of Sydney and NSWAgriculture).

! A project (2.1.6) widely supported byindustrial Participants to evaluatepractical solutions to the control of wheatquality in storage. Bunge/Defiance,Goodman Fielder and George WestonFoods have been active in this projectwhich has also involved staff from CSIROPlant Industry and from CSIROEntomology (Stored Grains ResearchLaboratory)

! A project (3.1.5) also widely supported,which came out of a brainstormingsession, to study novel approaches to thecontrol of mill performance.This is beingconducted between commerciallaboratories (Goodman Fielder) and BRIAustralia.

! Special mention should be made of the“Prime Hard in the South”project which,though not new, received this year veryhigh levels of interest across all CentreParticipants, as well as externalorganisations. Most notable were CSIRO,NSW Agriculture, GRDC,AWB Ltd,Weston’s, Incitec fertilizers, PivotAgriculture, and agencies from Victoriaand South Australia.

! Quality Assurance on farm (2.2.5)involves staff from Agriculture NSW,Goodman Fielder,Agriculture WA,Queensland DPI, NRE Victoria; in additionto interaction with Quality Farms Australiaand its member organisations.

The level of participation by industry andresearch providers in the functioning of theCentre, including the Board and ProgramManagement Committees in projectgeneration, education, technology transferand applications.

The involvement of researchers andresearch managers from commercialParticipants in steering Centre projects. *

■ Year 1: Participation has been widespreadacross the management of all programs, asforeseen in the 1994 CRC Application andin the Commonwealth Agreement.

■ Year 2: One current and one formerindustrial scientist became members of theCentre’s expanded Senior ManagementGroup. Company Participants renewed theircommitment despite changes in theirorganisations such as take-overs, budgetcutting and management reorganisations.Research providers pledged to maintain in-kind contributions.

■ Year 3: Scientists working for commercialParticipants who are in the SeniorManagement Group now number three.One senior commercial scientist isseconded for 50% of her time to the Centreat this level. High level of representation onthe Board by commercial Participantsmaintained.

■ Year 4:The previous years’ level ofcommitment to the management of theCompany by the commercial Participantshas continued, despite the merger of two ofthem.All participants remain committed tothe overall level of in-kind in theCommonwealth Agreement, and torecovering the earlier shortfall.

The effectiveness of the Centre (and itscomponent research and educationalgroups) in interfacing with industry,university and government users of theCentre outcomes.

■ Year 1: Industry and university participantsand non-participants (overseas companies)are being involved in the development ofresearch and business plans. Examples arethe creation of speciality wheat varieties(industry participants and SydneyUniversity), research on process control ofstarch damage in mills and machinery forwheat processing (overseas machinerymanufacturers and BRI).The Centre alsoparticipated in the GRDC-funded NIRCentre.

■ Year 2: Again the examples have multiplied.During the past year we have managed thescientific part of a DIST- and wheat industry-funded Wheat Quality Assurance program. Ithas involved states and groups not part ofthe Centre such as the Grains Council ofAustralia, Queensland DPI, Pulse Australiaand the bulk grain handlers. Quality WheatCRC Ltd is working with the newly

76

77

established Co-operative Research Centrefor Molecular Plant Breeding centred onthe Waite Institute in the University ofAdelaide. Further links with research groupsoutside Quality Wheat CRC have also beenestablished through GRDC-funded researchprojects complementary to CRC-fundedwork.Apart from a Wheat Molecular Markerproject, we have been successful inapplying for and setting up three projects,involving other groups from outside theCentre - the Victorian Institute for DrylandAgriculture (VIDA), and SARDI.Anotheraspect is the linkage of CRC-fundedresearch with overseas scientists andtechnologists. In the year under review wehave, for example undertaken to supplyimmunoassay-based test-kits to wheatbreeders at the Centro Internacional deMejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT -Mexico City) as well as Australian WheatBreeders for their use in rapid identificationof quality characters in early breeding lines.

■ Year 3:Virtually all the above two years’examples have continued, and there arenow significant additional interactions withold and new collaborators including FoodScience Australia, Queensland DPI andGRDC.The continuing QA activity throughQuality Farms Australia, assures a highprofile involvement and uptake of Centrescience by the industry at large, and theincreased momentum of our growertraining programs has increased use of ouroutput by Agriculture Western Australia.

■ Year 4: Again the above examples continueunabated.We have significant new linkswith CSIRO Entomology Division (SGRL),and new GRDC projects including one onhigh protein wheat genotypes which is acollaboration with the South AustralianResearch & Development Institute (SARDI).In the development of our strategies forcommercialisation of our germplasm weare discussing links with severalcommercial entities, and have maderesearch links with Hybrid WheatAustralia/Sunprime Seeds and Monsanto(USA).Two scientific projects this year haveresulted in increased use of our outcomesby NSW Agriculture.The Quality FarmsAustralia involvement now includes PulseAustralia, the Australian OilseedsFederation, the Australian Cotton IndustryCouncil, GRDC, grain handlers and theGrains Council of Australia.

The extent of PhD and Honours candidateinvolvement in the research activities ofthe Centre.

■ Year 1: Eight new postgraduate studentshipsstarted and three undergraduate vacationstudents appointed.

■ Year 2:The number of postgraduatesworking in the CRC has increased, andCentre staff supervised fifteen.The numberof CRC Vacation Scholarships enablingundergraduate students to conduct a smallresearch project in cereal science wasincreased to five.The proportion carried outin industrial laboratories was also increased(60%).The Centre sponsored anUndergraduate Scholar in Agriculture in theUniversity of Sydney.

■ Year 3: Four former PhD students associatedwith the Centre have moved into relatedwork in industry.The number ofpostgraduate students is still fifteen.

■ Year 4:The number of postgraduatestudents has risen to eighteen (fifteen fullyfunded by the Centre), and two have hadtheir theses accepted during the currentyear. Recruitment and financing for at leastfour new students to start July-December1999 has been obtained during the year.

2. RESEARCH & RESEARCHERSAn appropriately balanced portfolio oflonger term strategic and applied researchdeveloped in close association withindustry.

■ Year 1:The longer-term research goal(number 6) has the heaviest allocation ofsub-programs contributing to it, and roughlyrepresents one-third of the Centre’s currentactivity by this measure.

■ Year 2: In agreement with industry, wedefined projects whose basic justification isto enhance background knowledge as“long-term”, and concluded that 24% of theresources of the centre are actually sodeployed, and that the proportion was right.

■ Year 3:The Board and the CRC Committee(at the Second Year Review) have approvedthe balance implicit in the above ratio,which has been maintained.

■ Year 4: Consistent with policy, support forthe longer-term part of the portfolio hasbeen maintained. Industry Participants havetaken an increasingly active role in steeringthe shorter-term part, as a result of theirhigher representation on the SeniorManagement Group. Periodic updates onproject progress have been given to groupsof managers and employees fromindividual commercial Participants.

Invitations to present keynote addresses,invited papers and workshops at influentialconferences.

■ Year 1:The Centre Director has madeinvited presentations on the work of theCRC to the AIFST Annual Conference, and iscurrently preparing presentations to threeother conferences. Invited presentationshave been/are being made to researchbodies outside the CRC and internationally.Centre secondees and the Director haveparticipated in farm advisory workshopsand in workshops designed to help theallocation of GRDC funding.

■ Year 2: Levels of such activity increased,with the Centre playing a high-profile rolein the group of international conferencesthat occurred in Sydney during August andSeptember and Canberra in October,namely Cereals ‘96 and Gluten ’96, theInternational Triticii Mapping Initiative, andthe Eighth Australian Wheat BreedingAssembly.The Centre was represented at theInternational Wheat Quality Conference,Kansas City, USA in May 1997.A CRCprogram manager gave radio interviewsabout the growing of Prime Hard Wheat inthe southern wheat belt. CRC program andproject managers as well as the Directoragain participated in several GRDCworkshops.

■ Year 3:The Centre played a high profile roleat the 47th RACI Cereal ChemistryConference in Perth (September 1997), theManaging Director addressed theconference, and numerous other papersand posters were given.Two Centre students(Surjani Uthayakumaran and StevenZounis) were given bursaries to attend theconference by the Organisers.TheManaging Director was invited to share aplatform with Norman Borlaug at the ICCSymposium “Genetic Engineering inCereals”,Vienna, May 1998 (his place waseventually taken by Frank Bekes,representing the Centre), and to address theFlour Millers Council Conference in Victoriain September 1997.Alan Ellis (BusinessManager) played a major role in the GrainsCouncil of Australia Workshop “QualityAssurance in the Grains Industry”(July1997). One project leader (Rudi Appels)and the Managing Director participated inthe strategy workshop of the CRC forMolecular Plant Breeding in June 1998; theMD was invited to be a member of theIndustry Advisory Committee of that Centre.

■ Year 4:The Managing Director was invitedto address the GRDC-sponsored “ResearchHorizons for Grain Policy Leaders”course inJuly. He also chaired a session at, and the

Centre generally played a major role in“Cereals ‘98” in Cairns (August). Otherprominent CRC people were involved –John Ronalds (received an award) BobCracknell (became president of the ICCand a Director of AACC) and LindsayO’Brien (co-chair of the organisingcommittee), and two CRC students receivedawards.Also in August we presented severalpapers and organised (Colin Wrigley) asymposium at the Annual Meeting of theAACC.The Managing Director was invited toaddress the GCA/GRDC conference:“Progressing Grain Crop Improvement for aNew Millenium”in September and theSouth Australian Field Crops DevelopmentBoard in November 1998. Colin Wrigleycontributed to a conference organised bythe European Union in Sweden (March1999) to discuss the commercialisation offood industry research. In the same monthClare Johnson was invited to participate inthe GRDC’s Grain Storage ExtensionWorking Party.We also submitted manypapers and posters to the Australian PlantBreeding Conference in Adelaide (April).

The number and importance of honoursand awards bestowed upon Centre staff.Promotions of Centre secondees to moresenior positions within or outside theirorganisations*.

■ Year 1: Professor D Marshall (Program 3leader) and Dr G McMaster were electedfellows of the Australian Academy ofTechnological Sciences and Engineering in1995.

■ Year 2:The Chairman was appointedadjunct Professor in the Department ofAgricultural Economics of the University ofNew England.The Managing Director wasappointed adjunct Professor in the Facultyof Agriculture at Sydney University. DrGraeme Robertson, a Director, was electedFellow of the Australian Institute ofAgriculture, Science & Technology.

■ Year 3:The Council of the University of NewEngland conferred the title of EmeritusProfessor on a Centre Director, John Lovettin recognition of his distinguishedacademic career. Dr Lindsay O’Brien(Program 1 deputy manager and projectleader) received the F B Guthrie award atthe 47th RACI Cereal Chemistry Conferencein Perth (September 1997) for hisoutstanding contributions to the science.John Oliver, formerly Program 2 manager inthe Centre was promoted to ProgramLeader (cereal products) in NSWAgriculture.

■ Year 4: Dr Kevin Sheridan, a Director wasawarded the AO in the 1999 Queen’sBirthday Honours. Dr Chris Hudson, also aDirector, was appointed Adjunct Professorin the Faculty of Natural Resources(Department of Agriculture and VeterinaryScience) at the University of Queensland.He was also appointed to the Board of theAustralia and New Zealand Food Authority(ANZFA). Dr John Skerritt, a ProgramManager, was appointed Deputy Director ofthe Australian Centre for InternationalAgricultural Research (ACIAR). He andthree other CRC secondees from CSIRODivision of Plant Industry (Rudi Appels,Frank Bekes and Peter Gras) receivedawards from the Chief of the Division. DrNigel Larsen, a Program Manager, waspromoted to Team Leader, Food Quality andSafety, at the NZ Institute for Crop and FoodResearch. Dr Michael Southan, a Centrepostdoctoral fellow joined the milling andbaking science group of BRI Australia.

Increase in the number of articlesaccepted for publication in leadingscientific journals such as: Cereal Science,Cereal Chemistry,Australian Journal ofAgriculture Research, Plant MolecularBiology.■ Year 1: Publications are in line with the

activities of the participants before theformation of the centre, but in one or twoareas (eg dough behaviour modelling inCSIRO) new activity has been stimulatedwhich is in press.

■ Year 2: Greatly increased publicationactivity is reported for the year.

■ Year 3: Fourteen fully refereed publicationsappeared or went to press during the year.This is a sharp increase on last year.

■ Year 4:The rate of publication in refereedJournals has doubled relative to last year’slevel.

Increase in the number of farmers,companies, agencies or institutions usingCentre developed concepts andtechnology.

■ Year 1: Centre participants and non-participants (companies, institutes andresearch providers) are planning newresearch programs in marker-assisted wheatbreeding and noodle quality, modifiedand/or stimulated by Centre activity.Athrough-chain quality assurance system forthe wheat industry is being developed.

■ Year 2: All the above examples have turned

into actual work programs. New examples(again, this is a random selection from along list) are in the use of centre-derivedknowledge by one industry participant forimproving performance of its bakery ovens,and by another for identifying flour batcheswith cake-processing problems.

■ Year 3: Again the above examples havecontinued and the new ones havemultiplied even more.As a direct result ofQWCRC-managed research,AWB Ltd hasencouraged exports of prime hard wheatfrom the Port Kembla zone.We haveproduced and supported new targetedtraining courses for growers in Eastern andWestern Australia during 1997/8.We havecompleted research on new methods forcontrolling water absorption in bakers’flours (ie reducing ingredient costs); someof this produced commercially-valuableinformation being used by IndustrialParticipants. Our pilot milling projectgenerated useful data for the classificationof the new variety Diamondbird.Improvements in flourmills’ qualityassurance (QA) procedures werestimulated by CRC science, resulting in aworkshop attended by large numbers ofsite-based practitioners.We contributed tothe Grains Council of Australia’s workshopin July 1997, and joined with other grainsindustry groups in establishing QualityFarms Australia, to further aid theimplementation of QA systems on farm.Centre commercial Participants joined inthe evaluation of one of the world’s firstsamples of “waxy”wheat.The uptake, byAustralian and overseas wheat breeders, ofour diagnostic test (for the ryechromosome translocation “1B/1R”) hasbeen good and they have reported itreliable.

■ Year 4: Again there has been a continuationof the previous examples, and a raft of newones, the following being typical. Despiteadverse climatic conditions for the 1998season AWB Ltd and growersenthusiastically supported the developmentof the “Prime Hard in the South”concept,and there was much input from fertilizermanufacturers.The program of grower-oriented training courses and the qualityassurance program was expanded.Evaluation of a larger sample of “waxy”wheat was conducted by Participants in theCRC and by non-Participant companies,and this provided evidence of newprocessing benefits to be derived from thistype of product.The number of diagnostictests (for the rye chromosome translocation“1B/1R”) supplied to Australian andoverseas wheat breeders rose to nearly

78

79

9000.The WheatRite rain-damage test kitwas evaluated successfully and extensivelyby growers throughout the country and alsoused by breeders to detect germplasmshowing the “late maturity α-amylase”defect.

Increase in the number of articlesreporting on wheat quality and advancedprocessing technologies.

■ Year 1:Television, radio and rural pressarticles on the CRC at the time of opening;national and international newspaperarticles on dietary aspects of wheat quality.

■ Year 2: Continued coverage in newspapers,radio and non-learned periodicals, eg FoodAustralia, Ground Cover.

■ Year 3:This year’s coverage included thecropping section of the Stock Journal andLeading Edge bakery and food servicejournal and the Annual Wheat Newsletter.

■ Year 4:This year there has been a series ofsix articles in Farming Ahead, two inAustralian Grain, and others in publicationsas diverse as Rural Weekly and Central andNorth Burnett Times (Queensland).Also inFood Australia and Cereal Foods World(USA). Support for articles and booklets onwheat quality and relevant agronomy hasresulted in articles widely circulated togrowers in the Southern and Western wheatbelts.

Increase in the number of eminentscholars undertaking visits to the Centre.

■ Year 1: One visiting research fellow from UK(sub-program 1.6).

■ Year 2: Obtained a GRDC Visiting FellowshipAward to finance the visit of Professor ZPlaut of the Volcani Institute, Israel.

■ Years 3 and 4:The Centre has subsidisedthe activities of the Royal AustralianChemical Institute’s (RACI) CerealChemistry Division, thereby facilitating thevisits of several prominent scientists fromoverseas.Wim S.Veraverbeke, a visiting PhDstudent from the Laboratory of FoodChemistry, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven,Belgium spent 2 months at North Ryde,optimalising the conditions of the in vitropolymerisation of glutenin subunits (5.1.1).

3. EDUCATION & TRAININGIncrease in the number of PhD and/orMasters candidates conducting theirresearch within the Centre, or throughuniversities associated with the Centre. Afuture indicator will be the number of PhDand Masters degrees awarded.

Increase time spent by Centre Participantsand their staff in supervising/co-supervising/advising students and the valueplaced by employers on Centre PhD,Masters and Honours graduates.

■ Year 1: Eight new postgraduate studentshipsstarted and three undergraduate vacationstudents appointed.

■ Year 2:The number of postgraduatesworking in the CRC increased, and fifteenare supervised by Centre Staff.

■ Year 3: Four students who have completedtheir studies are now working in theindustry.The number of postgraduatestudents associated with the Centre isfifteen.

■ Year 4:The number of postgraduatestudents has risen to eighteen (fifteen fullyfunded by the Centre), and two have hadtheir theses accepted during the currentyear. Recruitment and financing for sevennew students to start July-December 1999has been obtained during the year. Of therecent finishers, three are now working atthe University of Sydney (on Centre relatedresearch for which part of the money wasraised by us), one is in Agriculture WA, oneis at CSIRO Plant Industry, and one atArnott’s Biscuits.A number of students havebeen granted short (3-6 month) extensionsto their scholarships to enable them tocomplete their research.The managingDirector has joined the extensive list ofCentre Staff who spend time supervisingand examining theses.

Increase in the number of grain producersand handlers undertaking short coursesand workshops developed and/orsponsored by the Centre.

■ Year 1:Twelve NSW district agronomists anda key agronomy researcher from WA trainedthrough CRC sponsorship.

■ Year 2: Fourteen district agronomists andother growers’ advisers (from NSWAgriculture,Agriculture WA and from otherState departments) were sponsored toattend the Milling for Non-Millers course atBRI Australia. Quality Wheat for Quality EndProducts Courses were prepared and/orpresented to give a wider appreciation of

the influence of growing conditions onwheat quality to farmers in WA, SA,Queensland and Victoria.

■ Year 3:We have produced and supportednew targeted Quality Wheat for Quality EndProducts training courses (Called QualityWheat – Understanding MarketRequirements in the West) for growersthroughout Australia during 1997/8, andthey have received excellent feed-backfrom those attending.

■ Year 4:The earlier initiatives havecontinued, increasing numbers of QualityWheat for Quality Foods courses beinggiven, and a version prepared for using atsmaller growers’ assemblies where there areless resources available.This course hasnow been in all wheat-growing States,including those not represented in the CRC– Queensland,Victoria and South Australia.There is now a waiting list for the WesternAustralia course, which has becomepractically self-supporting.We also co-sponsored an “Asian Wheat Users andMarkets”course for (Western) AustralianFarmers in August, and have grower groupsinvolved in the QA on-farm project.

Increase in the number of Honoursstudents undertaking research projects inthe Centre research programs and/or inlaboratories of industry partners.

■ Year 1:Three undergraduate vacationstudents appointed.

■ Year 2:The number of CRC VacationScholarships enabling Honours students toconduct a small research project in cerealscience was increased to five.Theproportion carried out in industriallaboratories was also increased.

■ Year 3:There were seven CRC VacationScholars this year (two worked in industriallaboratories), and there was also an(honours listed) Undergraduate Scholar atthe University of Sydney.

■ Year 4: Eight vacation students were givenprojects this year: three worked in industrylabs (Goodman Fielder,AgrifoodTechnology and Weston’s). One was at BRIAustralia in a project for commercialbakeries and two were working onWheatRite field trials for commercialvalidation.The other two had a strongindustry focus; one of them subsequentlynegotiated work in a Participant’slaboratory.The undergraduate scholarshipwas continued.

Increase in the number of current orpotential industry employees undertakingtraining programs developed with Centreinvolvement.

■ Year 1: One industry employee hassubmitted a Master’s.

■ Year 3: Five Industry Employees attended aweek-long course “The Chemistry andBiochemistry of Grains”organised by theCentre and Sydney University.

■ Year 4: Four industry employees andthirteen students attended the “WheatProteins and Dough Properties”course inJuly 1998.We co-sponsored the CrawfordFund “Master Class”on biotechnology inagriculture, attended by influential industrystaff. In February 1999 we held a workshop“Molecular Techniques for Rapid WheatBreeding”which was extremely wellreceived.A total of 46 industry managers,staff and students attended (including fivefrom Agriculture NSW, three from Arnott’s,and three from BRI Australia). In March1999 the workshop “Tools for AchievingWheat Quality Targets”was used topromulgate the outcomes of Program 2 toall Participants’ staff.We have prepared aworkshop for July 1999 at which sevenindustry employees have made bookings.The Managing Director provided a segmentin the GRDC-sponsored course “ResearchHorizons for Grain Policy Leaders”(July1998).

Increasing relevance and accessibility ofindustry targeted training programs.

■ Year 1: A National Certificate Course and anAdvanced Certificate Course in areasrelevant to the centre are in advancedstages of preparation.

■ Year 2: Agreement was reached with theUniversity of Sydney to use Centre-designedmodules as part of a MAgr degree whichwill be attractive to industrial employees forwhom study time is at a premium.Thedrawing up of the competency standardsfor plant bakery operatives was completedin collaboration with the National FoodIndustry Training Council and DEET.

■ Year 3: Accessibility has been increased bythe recruitment of an effective Educationand Training coordinator in the Centreduring the year.A National Certificate inFood Processing – Plant Baking is nowavailable.An Advanced Certificate in CerealScience for Technical Laboratory Personnelis available by distance learning.

■ Year 4: Concerted effort has been devotedby the Education and Training coordinatorin building a suite of resources andeffective links with a broad network of farmadvisers. Our web-site is now up andrunning and the Wheat Quality factsheetshave proved valuable to extension officers.A grain storage CD has been prepared forrelease in spring and was received mostenthusiastically by reviewers nationwide.Arevised booklet,“Great Grain - QualityAssurance for Grain Growers”, has beenproduced in a joint initiative of QualityWheat CRC, Pulse Australia and theAustralian Oilseed Federation. It is beingpiloted by a number of grower groupsaround the country so that refinements canbe made.

4. APPLICATION OF RESEARCHThe degree of adoption and diffusion ofconcepts developed within the Centre intoindustry, universities and government usersof the research.

■ Year 1: Centre participants and non-participants (companies, institutes andresearch providers) are planning newresearch programs in marker-assisted wheatbreeding and noodle quality, modifiedand/or stimulated by Centre activity.Athrough-chain quality assurance system forthe wheat industry is being developed.

■ Year 2: Again the examples have multiplied.Conceptual areas we have influenced haveincluded the following, in addition to theabove: Research to increase the flexibility ofwheat use; research to understand andmanage the effects of growing and storingconditions on flour quality.

■ Year 3:The above examples continue to beimportant, but new ones have risen toprominence.As a direct result of QWCRC-managed research,AWB Ltd hasencouraged exports of prime hard wheatfrom the Port Kembla zone.We havecompleted research on new methods forcontrolling water absorption in bakers’flours (ie reducing ingredient costs); someof this produced commercially-valuableinformation being used by IndustrialParticipants. Our pilot milling projectgenerated useful data for the classificationof the new variety Diamondbird.Improvements in flourmills’ qualityassurance (QA) procedures werestimulated by CRC science, resulting in aworkshop attended by large numbers ofsite-based practitioners.We contributed tothe Grains Council of Australia’s workshopin July 1997, and joined with other grains

industry groups in establishing QualityFarms Australia, to further aid theimplementation of QA systems on farm.

■ Year 4: Most of the above examples haveagain continued, strongly in the case ofmost examples. New or extended initiativeshave included a workshop, convened byDaryl Mares,“Late Maturity a-amylase inWheat”, to report on his study of Australianbreeding material (August 1998 - Program1). Senior representatives attended this fromall the Australian Wheat Breeding programs.In October 1998, representatives of all fourmanufacturing Participants attended aforum organised by two of the majorresearch provider Participants to describethe latest results and industry application ofthe dough rheology work. In March 1999,the workshop,“Tools for Achieving WheatQuality Targets”, was used to promulgatemajor outcomes of Program 2 to allParticipants’ staff.The Centre co-supported(with Topcrop Australia) the “ManagingWheat for Quality”and “NitrogenManagement for Wheat…..”guidelinesmaterials produced by SARDI for farmers inSouth Australia.We also supported (withParicipants and fertiliser distributors)“Increasing Grain Protein in Southern Cropswith Topdressed Nitrogen”– a brochure forgrowers in the Northern part of theSouthern wheat belt.We also published oursecond industry Newsletter during the year.This document was widely circulated anddescribed outcomes from several Centreprojects.

The number of CRC developed methodsand technologies (eg diagnostic kits) usedby the wheat and related food processingindustries.

■ Year 1: CRC activities in commercialbakeries are beginning to providemanagement aids to process control (sub-program 1.7). New lines of soft wheat arebeing made available for commercialevaluation and a direct contribution isbeing made to the development of suitabletest equipment for use in industry (sub-program 1.3). Possible diagnostic kits forrain damage are being studied with apossible commercial partner (2.1).

■ Year 2:The progress in the above projectshas continued with the development ofprototypes of the rain damage kits and theoven probe.The development of theCentre’s Intellectual Property portfolioincludes genes for use in wheat breedingprograms, and there are importantadvances on early generation screeningtechniques for use by breeders.

80

81

■ Year 3:We have continued development ofthe rain-damage kit to a simple credit-cardformat.The uptake, by Australian andoverseas wheat breeders, of our diagnostictest (for the rye chromosome translocation“1B/1R”) has been good.We have seensome further progress towards thecommercialisation of the oven probe, andmarked development of process controlconcepts and diagnostic services to reducecosts in Partners’ bakeries. Our science wasused by one commercial Participant insetting up a new oven installation.

■ Year 4: Growers throughout the countryevaluated the WheatRite rain-damage testkit successfully and extensively. It was alsoprovided for evaluation to scientists inFrance, in Sweden and in the USA.Thenumber of diagnostic tests (for the ryechromosome translocation “1B/1R”)supplied to Australian and overseas wheatbreeders rose to nearly 9000.The WheatRiterain-damage test kit was also used bybreeders to detect germplasm showing the“late maturity a-amylase”defect. Costreductions from the use of our processcontrol hardware and software in onebakery were estimated as a $30,000 perannum reduction in product waste and a$45,000 per annum reduction in productgiveaway. Our Quality Assurance System wasdeveloped with others into a pilot GreatGrain program that is being evaluated byleading growers. Food companies withinand outside the CRC tested our waxy wheatas an ingredient in the creation of novelfoods.

Establishment of effective mechanisms forprotecting and commercialising CentreIntellectual Property*

■ Year 3:We have filed two new Australianprovisional Patents (one withdrawn) andare working towards several others.We haveestablished QW Investments Pty Ltd (QWIP)to be a partially (minority) ownedsubsidiary of the Centre to attractinvestment into the commercialdevelopment of Centre Outcomes, and wehave reached advanced stages in drawingup contracts for such investment withpotential investors.We have developed abusiness plan for the protection andcommercialisation of speciality wheatsemerging from Centre science.

■ Year 4: In the year we filed domestically andinternationally (Canada, Europe, Japan andthe USA) on one patent (food colouring),and filed two new patents covering theWheatRite kit and antibodies thatdiscriminate quality-determining wheatproteins.We have instructed our Patentagents on two other pieces of intellectualproperty – a novel food product from waxywheat and a new method to enhance theuse of molecular markers in wheatbreeding.We have registered the trademarkWheatRite in Australia, Canada, Europe, theUSA and in other countries. QWIP is nowoperating to commercialise the WheatRitekit, using Centre funds at present.The firstactual sales of this kit were made duringthe year.Activity to seek routes for thecommercialisation of the biscuit and waxywheats, plus other speciality wheats fromCentre science has intensified.We havestarted to distribute our quality assurancesystem through Pulse Australia.The series ofconfidential project reports (containingknow-how IP accessible only toParticipants) has grown markedly this year.

Increasing level of funding, particularlyfrom industry, for Centre projects.Funding from Participants and fromexternal investors for the technical andcommercial development of Centreprojects*.

■ Year 1: Additional commitments of >$1Mhave been obtained from industry andGovernment to a new wheat qualityassurance program.There is increasedfinancial commitment from an industryparticipant to a speciality wheat-breedingprogram in the CRC.A grant of $200000 wasobtained from NSW State Development forequipment purchase and for thedevelopment of the Centre.These itemsrepresent an overall increase of funding ofaround 10% relative to the CommonwealthAgreement.

■ Year 2: Quality Wheat CRC Ltd has againbeen able to increase the cash and in-kindfunding available to it, which has enabled itto strengthen links with bodies other thanits twelve Participants. In terms of cash,GRDC monies and the DIST/industrycontributions to the Wheat QualityAssurance Program amounted to about$591,000 and $525,000 respectively.

■ Year 3:The funding under management inthe Centre was increased by commitmentsfrom GRDC grants for researchcomplementary to that already going on.Notably this was for a program to develop

high-protein wheat genotypes for S and Wregions ($290,000), for an extension to the“Prime Hard in the South”project ($15,000)and for a project entitled “Amelioration ofGenetic Factors which Result inDowngrading of Wheat at Receival”($873,286). In addition we extended ourrôle in the National Wheat MolecularMarker program (a strategic initiative ofGRDC) by matching a salary component inProgram 1 to a GRDC commitment of$147855 to commence in 1998 to pay for atechnician working on marker validation.Year 3 saw the commencement of the“Flexibility of Wheat Use”projectrepresenting a commitment of $1,208,617(like most of the aforementioned projects,over 5 years) by the GRDC.The QA programwith DIST was finally completed during theyear, with a final funding of $72,000 beingobtained to ensure the uptake of theprocedures developed in industry.

■ Year 4: A number of new proposals foradditional complementary research haveagain been accepted by the GRDC.Theseadd a further $430,000 to the value of theresearch under the management of theCompany next year. In addition, the budgetdeveloped for the core activities of theCentre is about $400,000 above the originalCommonwealth Agreement.

Increases in the number of articlespublished in industry and farming journalssuch as: Food Australia, FoodManufacturing News, Food Engineering,Australian Farm Journal,Australian Grain,Ground Cover.

■ Year 2: Coverage in rural newspapers andnon-learned periodicals, eg Food Australia,Ground Cover has taken place withincreased coverage planned.

■ Year 3:This year’s coverage included thecropping section of the Stock Journal andLeading Edge bakery and food servicejournal.

■ Year 4:This year there has been a series ofsix articles in Farming Ahead, two inAustralian Grain, one each in Food Australiaand Cereal Foods World and others inpublications as diverse as Rural Weekly andCentral and North Burnett Times(Queensland).

5. MANAGEMENT AND BUDGETIncreasing coherence, clarity andeffectiveness of management and financialsystems and procedures.The timeliness and quality of Centreaccountability documents and processes.

■ Year 1: Complete financial reporting systemput in place to satisfy internal and externalreporting requirements of the Company.Reporting timetables all met, and recipientssatisfied, by the end of the year.

■ Year 2: Successful first Audit of theCompany and its first Annual Report andAnnual Operating Plan published, meetingall required corporate governancestandards and laws.

■ Year 3: Successful two phase Second YearReview with a panel of distinguishedscientists external to the Centre and withthe CRC Committee chairman, Dr GeoffreyVaughan and Secretariat. Successful secondAudit of the Company and its secondAnnual Report and Annual Operating Planpublished, meeting all Board-requiredcorporate governance standards and laws.

■ Year 4: Again we had a successful thirdAudit of the Company and its third AnnualReport and Annual Operating Plan werepublished, meeting all Board-required andCommonwealth-required corporategovernance standards and laws.

The level of transparency and timeliness ofresource allocation and managementdecisions.

■ Year 1: Budgetary allocations for the secondyear of the Centre’s life established byProgram Leaders, modified and then agreedat Board level (as the Annual OperatingPlan) essentially within a three-monthcycle.

■ Year 2: New program structure increasestransparency of decision making process,by putting related projects under the samemanager. Project priorities and new projectproposals were debated in open foruminvolving most Centre secondees, andfinalised by the Centre’s expanded SeniorManagement Group.An individualeconomic evaluation of projects wasbegun.Annual Operating plan finalised andapproved by the Board in time for newbudgetary cycle.

■ Year 3: Project priorities and new projectproposals were debated by an expandedSenior Management Group (includingProgram Managers’ deputies), and finalisedby the Centre’s management.An individualeconomic evaluation of projects was

continued.The Annual Operating plan wasfinalised and approved by the Board intime for the new budgetary cycle.

■ Year 4:The preliminary report of theeconomic evaluation of the Centre’sprogram was received.This study, donejointly by the Centre and GRDC, involvedstaff from most of the other commercialParticipants of the Centre as well as theresearch providers.The Senior ManagementGroup and the Board debated new projectproposals and project priorities in time forthe new budgetary cycle.

An increasing sense of ownership ofmanagement outcomes by Centre staffand participants.

■ Year 1: Approval from Program Leader toBoard level of the first Corporate Strategydocument. Research provider participantsagree to substantial reallocations of in-kindresources to facilitate Centre objectives, forexample wheat breeder and Consortiumpersonnel from NSW Agriculture andSydney University, Intellectual Propertysearching facilities from industrialparticipants. Ready acceptance ofredirection of specific programs inresponse to Centre management(examples; sub-programs 1.3, 1.5, 2.3, 2.4,3.1).

■ Year 2: New program structure increasestransparency of decision making process,by putting related projects under the samemanager. Project priorities and new projectproposals were debated in open foruminvolving most Centre secondees, andfinalised by the Centre’s expanded SeniorManagement Group.An individualeconomic evaluation of projects wasbegun.

■ Year 3:The new program structure is nowfully in place, which increases thetransparency of decision making process,by putting related projects under the samemanager (who is now provided with adeputy). Project priorities and new projectproposals were debated by an expandedSenior Management Group, and finalised bythe Centre’s management.This process wasfaster than last year’s, yet there were nosignificant problems of transparency.

■ Year 4: Research providers and otherParticipants have shown increasedcommitment to achieving the in-kindbudgets of the Centre.The SeniorManagement Group and the Board debatednew project proposals and project prioritiesin time for the new budgetary cycle.Members of the Senior Management Groupmade visits to commercial Participants topresent outcomes and discuss researchpriorities.

The cost effectiveness of the provision ofCentre leadership and managementservices.

■ Year 1: Management costs and staffinglevels below those foreseen inCommonwealth Agreement and below 5%of overall budget.

■ Year 2: Staffing levels remain as low asbefore, and inadequate for communicationand commercialisation activities.Consideration of increased resourcing tocover these is begun. New project structureimplemented which removes two tiers fromCentre management structure.

■ Year 3: Management staffing has remainedas last year, and communication andcommercialisation activities have beendealt with as before. Plans have been madeto expand staffing levels as part of QWIP(when investment is in place) withoutadversely affecting Centre overheads.

■ Year 4: Staffing levels at head office haveremained as last year, and existing staff havedealt with communication andcommercialisation activities.We have hadan Education and Training co-ordinatorworking for the full year for the first time.

THE OVERALL CENTREThe strength of the Centre identity andthe commitment of the people who areinvolved in it.

■ Year 1: High attendance by all participants’staff at CRC workshops and meetings andsupport for the CRC by their Boardrepresentatives indicates strong continuingcommitment to the Centre.

■ Year 2:The same continues. CommercialParticipants renew their commitmentdespite take-overs, budget cutting andmanagement reorganisations. Researchproviders pledge redistributed andmaintained in-kind contributions again.

■ Year 3: Quantitative measures of thecommitment of Participants to the Centreremain high at all levels.We have budgeted

82

83

for increased in-kind contributions again,and Board, management, and programmeetings continue to be well attended.Overall cash from participants is alsoincreased, relative to the Commonwealthagreement.

■ Year 4:The above measures continue toshow that levels of identity andcommitment remain unabated. Increasedpublicity through articles, newsletters,distribution of videos etc has improved theprofile of the Centre in the widercommunity.

The esteem with which the CRC forQuality Wheat Products and Processes isheld nationally and internationally.

■ Year 1: Renewed interest in participating inCRC programs has been expressed by anumber of research providers in States notcurrently taking part (Victoria,Queensland).

■ Year 2: Above organisations now working inCentre projects.The CRC and GRDCsecretariats encourage the Centre to workclosely with other CRC’s on projects thatthey sponsor. Overseas companies, researchorganisations and scientists express interestin collaboration with the Centre.

■ Year 3:We initiated closer collaborationswith the CRCs for Molecular Plant Breedingand International Food Manufacture andPackaging Science, and have received initialinquiries about research collaboration fromthree multinational companies (Europeand United States-based).

■ Year 4: Contracts for research collaborationhave been signed with an United States-based multinational. New researchprograms have been developed or havebeen started with the non-Participant States(Queensland,Victoria and South Australia).The Managing Director has been appointedto the Industry Advisory Committee of theCRC for Molecular Plant Breeding.TheManaging Director was invited to addressthe GRDC-sponsored “Research Horizons forGrain Policy Leaders”course, theGCA/GRDC conference:“Progressing GrainCrop Improvement for a New Millenium”and the South Australian Field CropsDevelopment Board. Farmer groups aroundthe country are seeking closer interactionwith the Centre.

The improved capacity of the wheat andrelated food industries to produceproducts of specific quality and increasedvalue for domestic and internationalmarkets.

■ Year 2: Specific quality germplasm andgenes identified and means for introducingthem into varieties rapidly established.Development of prototypes of the raindamage kit and the oven probe. CRCactivities in commercial bakeries arebeginning to provide management aids toprocess control (sub-program 1.7).

■ Year 3:We have continued development ofthe rain-damage kit to a simple credit-cardformat.The uptake, by Australian andoverseas wheat breeders, of our diagnostictest (for the rye chromosome translocation“1B/1R”) has been good.We have seensome further progress towards thecommercialisation of the oven probe, andmarked development of process controlconcepts and diagnostic services to reducecosts in Partners’ bakeries. One commercialParticipant in setting up a new oveninstallation used our science.We developedplans for launching new wheats withimproved properties in the period 2000 -2005. In terms of grower benefits theseprojects mean better quality wheats forspecific products, such as noodles, biscuitsetc., reduced risk of rain damage.

■ Year 4: Again there has been a continuationof the previous examples, and a raft of newones, the following being typical. Despiteadverse climatic conditions AWB Ltd andgrowers continued to support thedevelopment of the “Prime Hard in theSouth”concept.The program of grower-oriented training courses and the qualityassurance program was expanded. Ourquality assurance system was developedwith others into a pilot “Great Grain”program that was evaluated by leadinggrowers. Evaluation of a larger sample of“waxy”wheat was conducted byParticipants in the CRC and by non-Participant companies.This providedevidence of new processing benefits to bederived from this type of product and itspotential as an ingredient in the creation ofnovel foods.The number of diagnostic tests(for the rye chromosome translocation“1B/1R”) supplied to Australian andoverseas wheat breeders rose to nearly9000.The WheatRite rain-damage test kitwas evaluated successfully and extensivelyby growers throughout the country and alsoused by breeders to detect germplasmshowing the “late maturity a-amylase”defect. Cost reductions from the use of our

process control hardware and software inone bakery were estimated as a $30,000 perannum reduction in product waste and a$45,000 per annum reduction in productgiveaway.

The extent to which industry supportedresearch in the Centre is integrated witheducation and the extent to which projectmaterial is used in teaching and training.

■ Year 1: Sub-program 2.6 and related workare producing data which will be directlyapplied to the grower education parts ofprogram 3 (3.1).

■ Year 2: In the program reorganisation, alleducation and training projects are co-managed with the scientific work of theCentre (in new Programs 2, 4 and 5).

■ Year 3:There has been progress especiallywith the outcomes from the QA work andthe Prime Hard in the South project, inestablishing specific programs to transferthe technology to the users as part of theEducation and Training function.

■ Year 4: New or extended initiatives haveincluded a workshop, convened by DarylMares,“Late Maturity a-amylase in Wheat”, toreport on his study of Australian breedingmaterial (August 1998 - Program 1). Seniorrepresentatives attended this from all theAustralian Wheat Breeding programs. InMarch 1999, the workshop,“Tools forAchieving Wheat Quality Targets”, was usedto promulgate major outcomes of Program2 to all Participants’ staff.The Centre co-supported (with Topcrop Australia) the“Managing Wheat for Quality”and “NitrogenManagement for Wheat…..”guidelinesmaterials produced by SARDI for farmers inSouth Australia.We also supported (withParicipants and fertiliser distributors)“Increasing Grain Protein in Southern Cropswith Topdressed Nitrogen”– a brochure forgrowers in the Northern part of theSouthern wheat belt. Our quality assurancesystem was developed with others into apilot “Great Grain”program that is beingevaluated by leading growers. Outcomesfrom the storage and frosted wheat projects,for example, are providing enhancedextension information.

The extent to which the Centre is keepingpace with or, indeed, leading internationalscientific and technological progress.

■ Year 1:The majority of sub-programs in theCentre appear to have few, if any, national orinternational competitors and are thuslargely “front-runners”. Equivalent programsexist in other countries corresponding tosub-programs 1.1-4 and 2.1 and 2.3-6 butthey are not focussed on Australian Wheat.

■ Year 2:The following new or developingcollaborations with international groupsindicate our level of internationalcompetitiveness:Work with European basedscientists on dough protein components;agreement with a Japanese machinerymanufacturer to install an instrument in theBRI Australia Pilot Mill; negotiations with aEuropean machinery manufacturer about ajoint project to develop new equipment;supply immunoassay-based test-kits toCIMMYT, Mexico City for use in earlybreeding lines; research agreement with theHungarian Institute for R&D to build asmall-scale mixing machine; visit ofProfessor Z Plaut, Volcani Institute, Israel.Also, Crop and Food International increasedits in-kind commitment as a participant inthe Centre.

■ Year 3: Nearly all of the abovecollaborations have all been developedduring the year and they have beenaugmented by interest from European andUSA-based agribusiness multinationals withhigh levels of wheat quality scientific workand expertise.Two of these havecommenced negotiations for specificresearch collaborations with Quality WheatCRC Ltd.

■ Year 4: Actual research programs are nowwell established with agencies in the UnitedStates (Monsanto), Mexico (CIMMYT) andHungary (OMFB). Expressions of interest inthe rain-damage test kit have been receivedfrom several countries in all the wheat-exporting continents.

84