The use of the handheld grain quality analyzer for determination protein content in wheat cultivars

Abstract

Determination of different quality traits in plant breeding program often requires fast, reliable and non-destructive analytical techniques. During the last two decades, nearinfrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been most often used for measuring of chemical composition: protein, moisture, oil and other parameters 1 . The NIR techniques possess a number of advantages, but also a disadvantage that these devices are relatively large and weight more than 8 kg. The aim of the study was to examine possible using of handheld grain quality analyzer for protein content examination in wheat samples. The protein and water content of 13 wheat cultivars was determined by standard methods of Kjeldahl digestion and drying methods, respectively. Protein content was calculated on dry matter. Furthermore, this quality trait was also determined by handheld GrainSense Analyzer (Oulu, Finland) which weight is 820 grams without batteries 2 . The results of the study showed that the correlation between commonly used method and handheld grain quality analyzer is positive with r = 0.951. From results it can be concluded that handheld analyzer can be successfully used for protein determination in wheat samples.