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VARIETIES
QUALITY GROUPS
Martha Cuniberti
The
varieties actually in diffusion in the argentinian wheat area present a great
variability of qualities, having the farmers the possibility of choosing in a
wide varietal spectrum at the
moment to decide the planting. In general they opt for the varieties of more
yield and good behavior to deseases, without having more attention at the
quality aspect because the plus they can receive for the quality production it
is usually smaller in relation to that they achieve with a bigger yield.
There
are varieties of high production and very good quality at the same time that
could be sowed, allowing to achieve a differential of prices by quality if the
wheat is classify in a correct form without mixing all.
With
the intention of guide the differentiation of wheat were created 3 GROUPS OF
VARIETIES QUALITY to be use in simple and quick way not only by the farmer but
the milling industry, exporter and baker too. We started from INTA with this
classification more or less 12 years ago and since 2 years ago was official by
the National Seeds Commission (CONASE) trough the Winter Cereal Committee (CCI),
which is its advisory board and I am a member of it.
This
classification is very useful and
represent a guide of the
genetic quality of argentinian wheat, having an important demand actually. Argentina historically has placed its exportable balance for low prices and not for quality in spite of having wheat of very good bread making quality. As producing and exporting country we should compete with Canada, U.S.A and Australia, that classify their production in different classes in relation to the end-use quality, offering to the market diversity with guaranty of quality. In these two points should work those that are related to the wheat chain not only to achieve bigger credibility and better price in the external market but also in the internal market too.
The
industry demands specific characteristics of the flours that should be used to
obtain its products, since of them depend the final quality and the biggest
acceptance of the consumer.
Not
all the varieties can adapt to produce the different products neither to the
different processes. A variety can be good for bread, but it cannot be so good
for cookies, confectionery, sweet bread, mold bread, etc., that they require
other characteristics in the flours.
From
the point of view of the genetic improvement it is impossible to create a wheat
for each specific use, but it should be kept in mind at least four big groups:
Correctors (industrial bread making-Pan bread), Traditional Bread-making ( long
fermentation time more than 12 h), Direct Bread-making (short fermentation time
less than 8h), and Soft Wheat (cookies and confectionery).
The
concept of quality has gone varying through the time and at the present
“quality is what the client demands.” This implies a wider approach referred
to the final use and the quality according to the product to obtain.
Groups of Quality (Table 1)
The
quality of a variety is determined by the quantity and composition of the
reservation proteins. This makes that the expression of the quality varies among
the varieties. For that it is
possible a differentiation for Groups of Quality based on their genetic. The
varieties corresponding to each group present parameters of quality in a similar
range of values.
The varieties of the Group 1 are genetically correctors of others of inferior quality, and as such they are usually tenacity and short dough, so the volume of bread can be affected. When they are mixing with weak wheat give an excellent volume of bread by their corrective character. The varieties corresponding to the Group 2 of quality, are varieties of very good bakery quality that tolerate long fermentation time adapted for the argentinian traditional bread making of more than 8 hours and up to 16 hours of fermentation. The varieties of the Group 3 have high yield but low bread quality. They are use for direct bread making with less than 8 h of fermentation time. At same level of proteins the varieties of Group 1 will be of better quality that those of the Group 2 and these better than those of the Group 3.
The
QUALITY INDEX is use to define the group of one varieties (see the paper
“Quality Index as a predictor for industrial quality of wheat varieties”)
taking account the information given by the breeder, the annual quality data
from the wheat trials net (RET) in 21 location of the whole wheat area and the
quality information of official labs of INTA from Marcos Juárez and Barrow.
This
classification is annually updated due to the high genotype-environment
interaction for bread making quality and the need of modifying criteria. It is
not fixed. PROPOSAL OF QUALITY STANDARD FOR COMERCIALIZATION
(Table 2)
The Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishery and Food (SAGPyA) created in October,1998 the Quality Commission, that I am member, in order to proposing one standard to classify wheat for quality. It worked in discontinuous way for change of authorities until arriving in March, 2001 to a proposal of classification of wheat in 3 classes: Corrector, Superior and Common (Table 2). This classification took like base the categorization of the varieties in 3 Groups of Quality. · Corrector : wheat of the Group 1 of Quality with a minimum of 12% of proteins, test weight minimum 79kg/hl and Degree 1 of commercialization according to the current commercialization standard . · Superior: wheat of the Group 1 with protein among 11 and 12% that it don't enter in Corrector's category and those of Group 2 with proteins superior to 11% (Base of current commercialization), test weight of 76 kg/hl and Degree 2 of commercialization. · Common : wheat of Group 3 of quality with discount for inferior proteins to 11% according to the actual standard and without plus for superior proteins to 11% to be considered of bad genetic quality, and the wheat of Group 1 and 2 that they don't enter in the categories Corrector and Superior with protein under 11%. The actual standard established a plus of 2% per each 1% or fraction of protein under the basic of 11% and a discount of 2% for each 1% or fraction under 11%. It would be necessary to fix the price plus for the correctors, because not was possible to reach at an agreement. At the moment it is in the SAGPyA waiting for a resolution.
TABLE
1: INDUSTRIAL QUALITY OF VARIETIES OF BREAD WHEAT
Categorization of Winter Cereal Committee
of the National Seeds Commission-CONASE
*
Provisory Catogorization basied on only one year RET information or data
supplied by the breeder.
MAY, 2002. The corresponding varieties for
each group show similar ranges of values for the considered parameters. Table 2 . Proposal of Quality Standard for Argentinian Wheat Commercialization
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