Effect of fungicide treatment on the quality of wheat flour and breadmaking.

Fungicides are applied to crop plants to ensure disease protection and improve growth. To assess the effects of five commercial foliar and spike fungicides in four different combinations on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), various quality parameters and flour processing properties, including baking quality, were determined. Three commonly used wheat cultivars with different quality classes (E, B, and C) were tested. Falling number, crude protein content, water absorption ability, protease activity, viscosity, and the free amino acid content were mainly lower in the fungicide-treated grains than in the untreated grains. None of the fungicides caused any significant changes in the wet gluten content, dough properties, the mono- and oligosaccharide content, or the breadmaking quality. In general, the commercial fungicide treatments did not cause any statistically significant differences between the treated and the untreated samples with respect to the quality parameters analyzed, although there were indeed significant differences between the three cultivars themselves.