Abstract
Five different spring wheat varieties grown in Pakistan were selected for their biochemical and technological
properties. The physical characteristics such as thousand kernel weight and test weight differed significantly
among the wheat varieties. The chemical parameters such as moisture content, ash content, crude protein, and
Pelshenke value, differed significantly for straight grade flour (SGF) among different wheat varieties. Significantly
the highest wet gluten (38.83%) was found in SGF of Iqbal 2000 while the lowest (28.47%) wet gluten content
was found in SGF of Kohinoor 83. The dry gluten content ranged from 10.49 to 13.60% between SGF of different
wheat varieties. The Pelshenke value ranged from 51.04 to 150.12 minutes in SGF of different wheat varieties.
The mineral contents like, calcium, iron, zinc and copper significantly differed among the wheat varieties.
The electrophoretic patterns showed the variation in regions of molecular weight of glutenin subunits with
differences in their intensities in different wheat varieties. The highest numbers of HMW-GS polypeptide bands
were identified in wheat varieties Iqbal-2000 (102.9 kDa, 98.8 kDa, 87.1 kDa and 80.8 kDa). The low molecular
weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS) represented approximately 60% of the total wheat glutenin fractions of
different wheat varieties, and their molecular weight ranged from 32.9 kDa to 67.0 kDa. The wheat variety Iqbal2000 showed the presence of LMW-GS of ~42 kDa which play only a major role in determining the good bread
making quality characteristics. The sensoric attributes of breads varied significantly among different wheat
varieties. The highest scores for different parameters were assigned to breads prepared from flour of C-273 and
Iqbal 2000 while significantly the lowest were given to the breads prepared from wheat variety Punjab 96. The
information obtained in this study can be useful for millers and bakers for the selection of suitable variety for their
intended uses
