Qura-tul-Ain Riaz

To investigate the changes in Australian wheat quality throughout the history of wheat breeding in Australia

My PhD project is about investigating the quality of Australian Wheat varieties. Wheat quality is associated with wheat proteins and particularly gluten quality. The objective of my study is to investigate the evolution of gluten protein composition throughout the history of wheat breeding in Australia and the impact this has had on dough rheology and bread quality.

I have selected a set of 78 wheat varieties released between 1860-2015 in Australia over two consecutive harvest seasons (2015 & 2016). All these varieties have been investigated for their grain quality, protein contents and composition and dough rheological properties. The results have suggested that the improvement in protein quality, compensating the decrease in protein content, is associated with the increase in glutenin to gliadins ratio and un-extractable polymeric proteins (UPP%) as observed by protein compositional studies.

In addition to this, baking experiment has also been conducted to further investigate the changes in end product quality over the years. Moreover, the genetic control of wheat quality traits will be investigated by using QTL (Quantitative trait loci) and SNP information.

Prof Chris Blanchard,

Dr Asgar Farahnaky

Dr Mahsa Majzoobi

Dr Russell Eastwood

CSUPRS

• Riaz, Q., Masud, T., (2013) Recent Trends and Applications of Encapsulating Materials for Probiotic Stability. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 53:3, 231-244.

Conference Papers

1.    Riaz, Q.,Florides, C., Farahnaky, A., Békés, F., Majzoobi, M., Eastwood, R., Pleming, D., Blanchard, C. L.  (2018).Investigating the changes in quality of historical and modern Australian wheat varieties. American Association of Cereal Chemistry International 2018. October 21 – 23, 2018 London, United Kingdom.

2.  Riaz, Q.,Florides, C., Békés, F., Farahnaky, A., Pleming, D., Majzoobi, M., Eastwood, R., Blanchard, C. L. (2018). High and Low Molecular Weight Glutenin subunit alleles of Historic and Modern Australian Wheat Varieties and their effect on Dough Rheology. Australian Grain Science Association conference 2018. September 10 -13, 2018 Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga, Australia.

3.     Riaz, Q., Farahnaky, A., Majzoobi, M., Pleming, D., Eastwood, R., Blanchard, C. L. (2017). Investigating The Advances In Quality Of Australian Wheat Varieties Over The Last Century. Australian Grain Science Association conference 2017. September 19 -23, 2017 Christchurch, New Zealand