Vol. 28 Nos. 1-22000 Cereal Research Communications Composition and concentration of proteins in Lithuanian wheat cultivars: relationships with bread-making quality Kuktaite, R, I E. Johansson 2 and G. Juodeikiene l I Kaunas University of Technology, Department of Food Chemistry and Technology, Radvilenu st. 19, LT-3031 Kaunas, Lithuania 2 The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Breeding Research, S-268 31 Svalbv, Sweden Summary The concentration and composition of storage proteins in Lithuanian-grown wheat cultivars wcre investigated. The protein concentration did not explain the differences in bread-making quality between the cultivars. Zentos and Sirvinta were considered as good bread-making quality wheats accordmg to the Lithuanian miIlers and bakers. These cultivars showed the highest Glu-I quality scores, contained high-molecular-weight (HMW) glutenin subunits and D-zone omega gliadins correlated with high gluten strenl,rth as weIl as a high percentage of large unextractable polymeric proteins in total large polymeric proteins. The cultivars lubilatka and Marabu were found to carry an I BLiI RS rye translocation. This gave the lowest rye adjusted Glu-I quality scores, and also the lowest percentage of large unextractable polymeric proteins in the total large polymeric protein. The strong cultivars in this study, could be interesting as breeding material in the other Nordic and Baltic countries. Also. the D-zone omega gliadin d7, found to be relatively common in the Lithuanian wheats but uncommon worldwide, could be of mterest to introduce III wheat cultivars in other Nordic countries This gliadin is correlated with high gluten strength. Key words' bread-making quality, protein composition, protein concentration, wheat cultivars. Introduction In determining the bread-making quality, both concentration and composition of proteins are of importance (Finney and Barmore 1948, Payne et al. 1987, Johansson 1996) A strong positive relationship has been demonstrated between grain protein concentration and volume and texture of the baked loaves (Finney and Barmore 1948). Correlations have also been found between specific gliadins (Branlard et al. 1994, Johansson 1996) and bread-making quality, as well as between particular HMW subunits of glutenin and bread-making quality (Payne et al. 1987; Uhlen 1990; Johansson et al. 1993). Cultivars can be given a Glu-I quality score according to their HMW glutenin subunit composition (Payne et al. 1987). Also a rye-adjusted Glu-I quality score has been calculated for cultivars containing the 1 BLiI RS rye translocation (Payne et al. 1987). Polymeric proteins playas well a critical role for wheat flour processing properties Both amount and size distribution of the polymeric proteins have been shown to be important They can be measured using size exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (SE-HPLC) techniques after extraction of proteins using sonication (Gupta et al 1993) The dependence between bread-making quality, and protein concentration and composition can be taken advantage of by wheat breeders. In the Lithuanian wheat-breeding programme, high priority is given to the possibility to produce cultivars with good quality properties The gluten strength of the Lithuanian cultivars should also fit the desire of many different users. The aim of our work was to investigate the protein concentration and composition in commercially grown Lithuanian wheats. A better knowledge about this is of importance for Lithuaman breeders and also for breeders in the other Baltic and Nordic countries 195