The effect of weather conditions from heading to harvest on gluten quality of spring wheat – A study of historical data 2005–2022

The gluten-viscoelastic properties are essential for breadmaking quality and are affected by both genotypes and environments, such as weather conditions. However, it is still not clear how weather conditions cause variation in gluten quality and at which stage of the grain filling they are critical. The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between weather parameters during grain filling and the viscoelastic properties of gluten. The gluten of spring wheat varieties grown over 17 seasons, resulting in a total of 70 different environments, was analyzed with the Kieffer extensibility rig. The variation in viscoelastic properties of gluten was mainly explained by environment, followed by genotype, while the genotype∗environment interaction was small. The results also indicated that the periods around heading and physical maturity were the most critical when weather conditions affected the gluten quality. Our results also revealed that factors other than weather conditions are responsible for the variation in gluten quality. • Viscoelastic properties of gluten varied largely between 70 environments. • The variations were mainly explained by environment (E) and genotype (G). • The effect of E∗G interaction was significant although small. • Temperature and rain were the important factors causing the variation. • Weather during 10-days before harvest was the crucial period for gluten quality.