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BY JESSICA PATTERSON
GRAIN
SCIENCE
NEWS
Kernelsof truth
MODERNWHEAT STANDS UP TOHERITAGE VARIETIES
FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS,
Canadian wheat researchers have been
looking into the nutritional value of herit-
age varieties of wheat in order to combat
what they believe to be myths about the
grain in popular culture.
Dr. Ron DePauw, a researcher at the
Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research
Centre (SPARC) in Swift Current, SK,
decided to dive into wheat history to get
the goods on the world’s biggest crop.
He partnered with Dr. Nancy Edwards,
program manager of bread wheat research
at the Canadian Grain Commission, who
studied milling and baking properties,
and Dr. Nancy Ames, a research scientist
at the Richardson Centre for Functional
Food and Nutraceuticals in Winnipeg,
who looked into nutritional components
of heritage wheat.
The goal was both simple and complex:
Determine if the common, modern varie-
ties of wheat on the market had changed
on a genetic level—in terms of proteins,
and also in terms of milling and baking.
“There’s this misinformation that
the modern varieties are somehow less
nutritional than heritage varieties,” said
DePauw.
The team started their research in 2011,
looking at heritage varieties that were
available to grow in Canada 100 years ago.
They studied 20 varieties that spanned
the wheat genealogy from 150 years ago
to present, including Ladoga, Red Fife,
Hard Red Calcutta, Marquis, Thatcher
and Neepawa, and contemporary varieties
such as Carberry and CDC Utmost.
“We’ve got heritage varieties, and—
through breeding—added in resistance
genes, added in insect resistance,” explained
DePauw. “We’ve made the plants shorter,
we’ve made the plants stronger and better
adapted to growing conditions, better wa-
ter-use e ciency, and yet they’re all used for
making various kinds of bread products.”
Indeed, the research being done by
Ames, Edwards and DePauw led them to
believe there are no nutritional deficien-
cies in heritage varieties or in more recent
varieties that can trace their lineage to
Red Fife, Hard Red Calcutta and Ladoga.
“In terms of quantity of protein, the
average protein of the western Canadian
wheat crop is essentially the same as what
was produced 100 years ago,” DePauw says.
“In general, we haven’t found that
many changes,” said Ames. “In terms of
the bioactives, we didn’t see much of a
di erence, but where we did see di er-
ence was uniformity of newer varieties,
which maintained nutritional components
regardless of environment.”
Ames said older varieties and newer va-
rieties were similar in content, but under
certain environmental circumstances the
heritage varieties were less uniform than
the newer ones.
“They weren’t as resilient,” she ex-
plained. “The newer varieties maintained
levels despite location or year.”
The varieties developed in Canada have
maintained a good milling and baking
quality, Edwards explained.
“The other thing we have improved on is
dough strength [and] water absorption, so
when you mix a bread dough, you can get
more water into the dough,” said Edwards.
“For a baker, that means more loaves of
bread for the same quantity of flour. That’s
given us very marketable wheat.”
DePauw said he wants this informa-
tion to be public knowledge—that there
have been improvements to the milling
and baking properties, but there are no
nutritional deficiencies of the varieties
developed in Canada.
“Not only have we improved agronomic
performance, disease resistance, insect
resistance, water-use e ciency and nitro-
gen-use e ciency, but we have also been
able to improve the milling and baking
properties in some small way,” confirmed
DePauw.
He hopes this research will dispel
public misinformation spread by those
who aren’t certified researchers or health
professionals.
“Research will benefit farmers by
assuring consumers of the healthfulness
of wheat-based products, which results in
increased demand for wheat,” he said.
“I think it’s good that the scientific
community and agriculture is investigat-
ing these myths,” said JimWickett, chair
of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers
Association. “The diet industry is very large
in North America, and there are a lot of
people out there exploiting others who ei-
ther aren’t feeling well or need to lose some
weight, and they make a lot of claims they
can’t back up. This proves it.”
OLD SCHOOL:
Research scientist Ron
DePauw examines heritage wheat varieties
Marquis and Red Fife.
Photo: CamBarlow
Fall
2014
Grains
West
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