95% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1534621
Enhancing wheat quality through color sorting: A novel approach for classifying kernels based on vitreousness
Provisionally accepted
Jin-Kyung Cha 1
Hyeonjin Park 1
Youngho Kwon 1
So-Myeong Lee 1 Jeonghyun Kim 2 Woo-Jae Kim 1 Kwangho Park 3 Woosik Jang 3 Youngeun Lee 1 Byung Jun Jin 1 Kidong Han 3
Ki-Won Oh 1
Jong-Hee Lee 1*- 1 National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration, Miryang, Republic of Korea
- 2 National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju, Republic of Korea
- 3 DAEWON GSI Co., Ltd., Chilgok, Republic of Korea
Wheat is a major food crop used in producing bread, noodles, and cookies. Kernel vitreousness, closely related to protein content, is key to determining wheat's processing purpose. Traditionally, vitreousness is visually assessed, but studies on classifying vitreous and starchy kernels to improve quality are limited. This study expands the use of a commercial color sorter to classify kernel vitreousness by G value, distinguishing vitreous from starchy kernels. The system improved protein content and bread-making quality by classifying vitreous kernels, while reducing variability across 23 samples collected over four years. An industrial field test confirmed its applicability at scale. Genetic and environmental factors were also examined, revealing that varietal differences and flowering time were not significant contributors to variations in vitreousness. The findings suggest that color sorting is a reliable tool for enhancing wheat quality until more environmentally stable cultivars are developed, providing economic benefits through improved and consistent product quality.
Keywords: wheat, Color sorting, protein content, kernel vitreousness, quality
Received: 26 Nov 2024; Accepted: 26 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cha, Park, Kwon, Lee, Kim, Kim, Park, Jang, Lee, Jin, Han, Oh and Lee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jong-Hee Lee, National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration, Miryang, Republic of Korea
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.