Abstract
Eight commercial wheat varieties were harvested in two sets, i.e. pre-rain and post-rain. All the varieties were grown in field of National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad. Pre-rain harvested samples were without any sign of visible sprouting while post-rain harvested samples showed 6.0 to 21.5% sprouting depending upon variety. There was a decrease in thousand kernel weight and Ilour yield in sprouted samples of four varieties. Test weight was lower in sprouted samples than unsprouted samples of all the varieties except Faisalabad 83. Protein and gluten contents showed a considerable decrease in sprouted samples. Falling number values decreased considerably ranging from 290 to 367 seconds and from 164 to 288 seconds for sound aad sprouted samples, respectively. Dough characteristics such as water absorption, dough development time, stability and time to break down as derived from farinograms were lower in sprouted samples.
