Concept on Wheat Quality Improvement in Middle and Lower Reaches of Yangtze River Valley

The middle and lower reach of Yangtze River Valley is the only main region for planting weak gluten wheat.In which,coastal area and region along the Yangtze River is the most suitable area for developing weak gluten wheat and other regions are suitable for growing moderate gluten wheat.The quality improvement of weak gluten and moderate gluten wheat are the main breeding objectives.Although a number of weak gluten and moderate gluten wheat varieties have been released to meet the market requirement for quality wheat generally,the progress is not significant,since the quality of new released weak gluten varieties is not superior than that of Yangmai 9 and Ningmai 9,moreover,the gluten strength of moderate gluten wheat is not enough.In order to resolve these problems,three approaches were suggested:(1) Use the null of HMW-GS to reduce wheat gluten strength,thus breed weak gluten wheat with high quality.(2) Use preferable HMW-GS combinations improving protein fractions and gluten strength to breed high quality moderate gluten wheat.(3) Use the deficiency of Waxy protein subunits to breed weak-gluten wheat with good starch characteristics,which is acceptable for noodle making when its protein and gluten content is higher for biscuits due to over fertilizered or bad weather,but not sufficient for noodle making,and the insufficient can be compensated by its good starch characteristic.