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CapitalPress.com
Friday, April 16, 2021
Q&A: Researchers make progress on new tests for starch quality in wheat
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
New tests for starch damage in
wheat are on the horizon as researchers
seek a more reliable alternative to the
falling number test that is commonly
used.
Those eff orts got a shot in the arm last
summer, when Ash-
ley Cannon joined the
USDA Agricultural
Research Service in
Pullman, Wash., as
a research molecu-
lar biologist. Can-
non studied second-
Ashley
ary dormancy as a
Cannon
post-doctoral student,
giving her insight into
seed development
and germination.
She
joined
USDA research plant
molecular
geneti-
cist Camille Steber,
who with researchers
Camille
Amber Hauvermale,
Steber
Andrew McCubbin
and Michael Pum-
phrey designed a new test called an
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay,
known by the acronym ELISA.
It can measure the amount of
alpha-amylase in fl our samples. Late
maturity alpha-amylase is an enzyme
that causes starch degradation in wheat.
They have teamed up with an indus-
try partner to increase the sensitivity and
speed of ELISA.
In addition, Washington State Uni-
versity researcher Zhiwu Zhang and
former graduate student James Chen
have been developing another test that
combines hyperspectral imaging and
machine learning.
The commonly used falling number
test measures starch damage in wheat.
Technicians determine how long it
takes two pins to fall through a ground
wheat-water slurry, measuring its vis-
cosity. Wheat with a low falling number
has starch damage and is sold at a dis-
count because it can reduce the quality
of baked goods and noodles.
Farmers were caught off guard in
2016 when 44% of soft white wheat
samples and 42% of club wheat sam-
ples tested below 300, the industry stan-
dard. The industry estimated the dam-
age that year cost farmers more than
$30 million in lower wheat prices.
Low falling numbers can be caused
by pre-harvest sprouting due to rain or
by late maturity alpha-amylase occur-
ring as a result of large temperature fl uc-
tuations during late grain fi lling.
Cannon and Steber spoke with the
Capital Press March 18 via Zoom.
The interview has been edited for
length and clarity.
Capital Press: What does hav-
ing Ashley on board add to research
eff orts? What can you do now that
you couldn’t do before?
Steber: When the funding fi rst came
in for falling numbers through USDA,
I was asked what I needed help with.
I said, “There is a lot of pressure to
improve upon the falling numbers test,
and I’m being stretched in the direction
of biochemistry,” things I hadn’t done
before.
So I’m really glad to have her exper-
tise. When we did that job search, I was
looking for a partner in crime and I think
I’ve found her.
CP: Is it hard to get a handle on
what falling number is?
Cannon: The test itself is actually
pretty straightforward. I think we’re still
learning about how those test results can
actually translate to what we see in the
grains themselves. ...
I think the part that keeps coming
up, though, is there’s so much variabil-
ity in the test. That may have nothing
to do with science. That’s the part that
I think none of us can really get a grasp
on, unfortunately.
CP: If it may have nothing to
do with science, then what’s the
problem?
Cannon: I think some of it has to do
with users. It’s not really user error, at all.
It’s just the way each of us approaches
Capital Press File
Wheat is harvested in Washing-
ton state’s Palouse. Researchers
are developing wheat quality
tests that will be more accurate
and reliable than the falling
number test.
the technique. Each person who does
a falling numbers test introduces some
level of diff erence that could result in an
error.
The things that are contributing to
the gelling capacity are just a lot more
complex than people like to let on. It’s
not just, “Was there alpha-amylase or
was there not?” There’s a lot more going
on chemically that could lead to a lot of
diff erences in the gelling capacity of
that mixture in the test.
CP: How can a new test address
what you’re talking about?
Cannon: The falling numbers test,
unfortunately, although it works well to
give us an answer right now, isn’t always
a true refl ection of end-use quality.
Steber: It’s used by the industry as a
risk assessment tool.
Cannon: The research is really there
to show that sprouting grain unfortu-
nately has bad end-use quality, gener-
ally. If we use the ELISA ... our confi -
dence in the predicted end-use quality
goes up. I think that’s the advantage of
that test.
The other test, hyperspectral imag-
ing ... can tell us, hopefully long-term,
what a predicted falling number would
be, but also perhaps what is the cause of
a predicted, relatively low falling num-
ber. Is it sprouting or late-maturity alpha
amylase and based on that, what is the
actual predicted end-use quality? Col-
lectively, it increases our confi dence that
we actually know whether this grain is
going to result in good or bad end-use
quality, and it reduces unnecessary
losses to farmers.
CP: One of the complaints we
hear about the current test is that you
can’t replicate it because the sample
is destroyed in conducting the test.
Would these other tests address that?
Cannon: Hyperspectral imaging is
not destructive, so that’s really exciting.
We can test the same grain more than
once. That in itself increases confi dence.
If a farmer says, “I don’t agree,” just test
the grain again.
The ELISA, unfortunately, will
require destruction of the sample.
Steber: We have a struggle in that
critical range from 250 to 300 seconds,
there is a great deal of grain-to-grain
variation.
If I say, “Here, I have this bag of
wheat, and it’s 270,” if I were to go
through and take out little aliquots of
10 grains each, and check the enzyme
levels, I could get wildly diff erent num-
bers. ...
That variation is going to exist
whether I’m running a falling numbers
test, an immuno assay (ELISA) or a
hyperspectral assay.
With the hyperspectral assay, Ash-
ley is actually going to take things to the
point where she can measure alpha-am-
ylase on single grains.
That means we’ll literally get a pic-
ture of what’s going on, assuming that
everything goes as we’ve planned.
You’ll see what the cumulative fall-
ing number alpha-amylase level is
likely to be, and you’ll also get an idea
of the degree of variation in that sample.
CP: Would both tests replace the
existing test?
Steber: An immuno assay (ELISA)
at this point is a sure-fi re approach. It
means we will get it to work. It’s scien-
tifi cally clear we will get it to work.
The hyperspectral imaging, we are
still in the exploratory stages, so I hope
we will get it to work. Keep your fi ngers
crossed for us, please.
CP: What kind of a timeline is
there to move from the current test,
with its issues, to something that’s
more solid?
Steber: Well, there are two things
that have to happen, right? The science
and adoption within the industry.
We actually just wrote a pre-pro-
posal to (the Foundation for Food and
Agriculture Research) for a project that
includes not just the science piece, but
also the outreach piece for adoption. We
think that’s going to be critical.
It’s likely that adoption is going to be
gradual once we have the tool in place.
It’s going to be a long time before
our foreign buyers think that they will
trust a new test. It’s a matter of com-
ing to trust it. But I think the role it can
have early on is in identifying problems
earlier, before we start mixing low- and
high-falling number grain.
I think it will have a role at the ele-
vators and you never know, it may even
have a role for farmers when they har-
vest diff erent fi elds, so they know that
they need to be careful not to mix grain
from one spot with grain from another
spot, because they can see that they have
wildly diff erent falling numbers.
Cannon: Another way to think of it
that I think farmers will be really happy
to hear is I think breeding programs will
be able to use it. It’s really going to pre-
vent the release or even breeders push-
ing varieties through that have low fall-
ing number, or that have a particular
cause of low falling number. Farmers
can rest easy thinking that in coming
years breeders are going to be releas-
ing varieties that have more stable fall-
ing numbers.
Steber: This is a job for Ashley and
I, to develop these screening techniques
for the breeding programs and teach
them. Because the falling numbers test
requires expensive equipment, takes up
a lot of space in your lab and it’s very
low throughput.
Those things don’t add up to early
selection against the problem in a breed-
ing program. They add up to “OK, let’s
see if we can catch it just before it goes
out the door.”
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