Spaghetti making potential of Indian durum wheat varieties in relation to their protein, yellow pigment and enzyme contents

The research was carried out to evaluate spaghetti making potential of 12 Indian durum wheat varieties in relation to their protein and yellow pigment content and peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, lipoxygenase, and protease activities. The protein content of the durum wheat varieties varied from 12.1% to 15.9% and their yellow pigments content ranged from 3.8 to 7.2 ppm. The peroxidase activity in these wheat varieties varied from 269 to 1010 U/g and polyphenol oxidase activity from 58.8 to 78.3 U/g. The lipoxygenase activity of durum wheats ranged between 1.44 and 6.88 U/g. Protease activity was in the range of 1.1–5.1 U/ g. The data for varieties MACS-1967, MACS-3125, MACS-2846, DWR-2006, HI-8498 and N-59 were indicative of their potential for the preparation of pasta products.