Improving the nutritional quality and health benefits of food has been of increasing 17 interest globally over the last decade. Staple cereal foods are the major sources of dietary fiber 18 and a recent study identified the Chinese wheat cultivar Yumai-34 as having unusually high 19 levels of water-extractable arabinoxylan (WE-AX) and total arabinoxylan (TOT-AX) in flour. 20 Crosses were therefore made between this variety and three Central European varieties 21 (Lupus, Mv-Mambo, Ukrainka) and the physical properties (test weight, thousand-kernel 22 weight, flour yield, kernel hardness), composition (protein, gluten, WEAX, total AX) and 23 processing quality (gluten index, Zeleny sedimentation, Farinograph parameters) of the grain 24 were compared for thirty-one breeding lines (F7-F9) and the four parents in a three-year field 25 experiment (2013-2015). Increases of 0.5% in the WE-AX content and 1% in the content of 26 total AX content of the flour were achieved, with an improvement in dough properties. The 27 thousand-kernel weight, protein content, gluten content, Zeleny sedimentation and water 28 absorption of the flour also increased in many lines, while three of the lines had yields that 29 were competitive with the official control varieties, making them suitable for registration. 30 31 32