Sulfur and baking-quality of breadmaking wheat

Abstract

It is well known in biological science that all factors applied to living organisms (light, water, warmth, fertilizers etc.) show an optimum, when their input is increased. Healthy organisms and sus-tainable systems are, on the long run, only achieved when care is taken not to destroy this equilibrium of factors producing an optimum. With regard to the baking quality of wheat breeders and cereal scientists obviously failed to achieve this aim by breeding their cultivars on the background of ample S depositions in the ecosystems. They (involuntarily) selected plants showing definite characteristics of S deficiency (higher proportions of HMW-glutenin, stronger gluten and dough) even under conditions of ample S supply. I suppose they also selected plants with a high warmth susceptibility as this also delivers firm protein structure. When this environ-mental pollution was stopped and S supplies returned to natural conditions, even with a non S craving plant like wheat, problems arose with the gluten structure as doughs turned out so strong that the baking volume decreased. So one may ask, particularly with regard to S, if the plant constitutions of our modern wheat cultivars are still harmonious and in balance. And as a consequence ot that also the nutritional quality of these cultivars is rather questionable