A swelling power test was developed for selecting wheats suitable for the manufacture of Japanese white noodles. The test is rapid, uses less than 0.4 g of sample and is applicable to starch, flour, wholemeal or Quadrumat Junior flour samples. Swelling power values correlated significantly (P < 0.01) with peak paste viscosity monitored on the Rapid Visco Analyser and with noodle eating quality. Paste viscosity of flour or starch is considered an important characteristic governing noodle quality. The swelling power test provides a suitable predictive method for identifying noodle quality wheats in the early stages of a breeding programme.

No abstract

No abstract

Most crops host arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Canola and other brassicas are some of the few exceptions. This study examined AM fungal colonisation, uptake of phosphorus (P) and zinc (Zn), growth, and yield of wheat following brassicas and crops that host AMF in 5 crop-sequence experiments in southern New South Wales and Victoria. All experiments were on alkaline Vertosols, similar to soils in the northern wheatbelt on which low AM fungal colonisation of wheat following canola, or long-fallow, has been reported to induce poor crop growth. Soils with a broad range of extractable P concentrations were chosen. AM fungal colonisation of wheat was generally lower following brassicas than hosts of AMF, although this varied with year and location. The effect on wheat AM fungal colonisation levels did not vary between brassicas with differing levels and types of root glucosinolates. Low AM fungal colonisation did not affect early wheat growth, pre-anthesis P and Zn uptake, or yield. A positive relationship between AM fungal colonisation and grain Zn and P concentrations occurred in one experiment. High levels of colonisation by AMF did not protect crop roots from damage by root pathogens and high levels of pathogen damage made interpretation of results difficult in some instances. As these findings are consistent with results from an experiment on an acidic Kandosol in southern New South Wales, it appears farmers do not need to consider the degree to which wheat will be colonised by AMF when planning crop sequences in south-eastern Australia.

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is a minor crop in Australia with potential for seed, forage and green manuring, with most production based on an unnamed cultivar (A150000). A germplasm collection of 205 fenugreek accessions was evaluated in the field in south-eastern Australia for a range of phenotypic traits. There was significant variation exhibited for all traits including growth habit, flowering time, seed colour, seed size, biomass and seed yield. Over 100 accessions had significantly higher yield and/or biomass than the currently grown A150000. The diversity exhibited provides a promising basis for a genetic improvement program in Australia and in similar environments in other countries. The accessions identified as from the subspecies indica Sinsk. had small, yellow seed and originated mainly from Pakistan and India and half of these types had significantly higher yields than the check-line.Accessions that fitted the description of the more diverse subsp. foenum-graecum were from Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and several northern African countries, and there were high yielding green-seeded types in this group. Accessions from Turkey and Iran showed the most phenotypic diversity. High yielding accessions were found in germplasm from most countries and all latitude zones, although latitudes [30°provided 73% of the high yielding accessions. Countries of origin warranting further investigation at the mid-30s latitudes are Morocco, Iran, Turkey, Algeria and Jordan. It was concluded that traits associated with high yielding lines with yellow or green seed can be found in different centres of origins.