Development and characterization of wheat lines with increased levels of arabinoxylan

Improving the nutritional quality and health benefits of food has been of increasing interest globally over the last decade. Staple cereal foods are the major sources of dietary fiber and a recent study identified the Chinese wheat cultivar Yumai-34 as having unusually high levels of water-extractable arabinoxylan (WE-AX) and total arabinoxylan (TOTAX) in flour. Crosses were therefore made between this variety and three Central European varieties (Lupus, Mv-Mambo, Ukrainka) and the physical properties (test weight, thousand-kernel weight, flour yield, kernel hardness), composition (protein, gluten, WEAX, total AX) and processing quality (gluten index, Zeleny sedimentation, Farinograph parameters) of the grain were compared for thirty-one breeding lines (F7–F9) and the four parents in a 3-year field experiment (2013–2015). Increases of 0.5% in the WE-AX content and 1% in the content of total AX content of the flour were achieved, with an improvement in dough properties. The thousand-kernel weight, protein content, gluten content, Zeleny sedimentation and water absorption of the flour also increased in many lines, while three of the lines had yields that were competitive with the official control varieties, making them suitable for registration.