'Plant Breeding: Sustaining the Future' Abstracts of the XVIth EUCARPIA Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland, 10-14 September 2001 WINTER BREAD WHEAT IN KAZAKHSTAN: HARDNESS AND END USE CLASSIFICATION  A.I. ABUGALIEVA  Kazakh Research Institute of Agriculture, 37 Yerlepesov str., Almalybak 483133, Almaty region, Kazakhstan

Analysis of hardness of 334 samples of 16 commercial and 25 new cultivars (cvs) (SKCS 4100 Perten Instruments) has allowed to reveal that 68% of commercial cvs have high hardness and middle hardness (6+62%) and belong to bread type of wheat. Middle soft cvs was revealed among Zhetysu, Kazakhstanskaya 10, Spartanka, and Progress cvs, as well as mixtures (52-53 SKCS) in Bezostaya 1, Karlygash, and Mironovskaya 808 cvs. A new soft winter cv Batyr (22-47SKCS) with protein content 10,5-13,0% was revealed as perspective one for pastry. It was revealed that 14% of soft and semisoft cultivars and 21% of mixtures with protein content equal to 11,7-13,1% were formed under irrigated conditions.  To stable wheat grain quality the breeding to uniformity on soft/hard grain ratio and for hardness is necessary.