Conditioning studies on Australian wheat. IV. Compositional variations in the bran layers of wheat and their relation to milling

Analysis of hand dissected bran and detergent fibre from six Australian wheat cultivars has shown that the rate of water penetration into grains during conditioning for milling, may in part be explained by some aspects of chemical composition of the bran. The degree of branching in bran arabinoxylans appears to be important; the more highly branched polysaccharides providing a greater barrier to water movement. The lipids may also cause a retardation of water movement through the bran layers of the wheat grain.