Abstract: Southwest region is one of the most important wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production area in China, of which Sichuan Province has the largest planting area of wheat. It is crucial to understand the quality potential and stability of major commercial cultivars and provide guidance for wheat production in Sichuan Province. Seven representative cultivars were planted in five ecological sites of Sichuan under two nitrogen application levels from 2006–2008, and eight quality traits and noodle- and bread-making scores were determined. Three-year averaged test weight, grain protein content, wet gluten content, Zeleny sedimentation, falling number, flour water abstraction, dough developing time, stability time, noodle score of dry white Chinese noodle, and bread score were 777 g L^-1, 12.3%, 25.1%, 32.9 mL, 326 s, 56.5%, 3.0 min, 4.5 min, 78.5, and 62.2, respectively. In a combined analysis of variance, effects of genotype, environment, and their interaction were significant for almost all traits tested. For test weight, Zeleny sedimentation, falling number, flour water abstraction, and noodle score of dry white Chinese noodle, the influences from year were greatly larger than those from location; whereas, for protein content, wet gluten content, dough developing time, stability time, and bread score, the influences from location were larger than those from year. Increasing nitrogen application significantly improved most quality traits and raised bread score, but had no influence on noodle score. Stability analysis revealed that Chuanmai 39 was stable for bread quality with the highest bread score value, while Chuanmai 37 was stable for most quality traits with the highest noodle score. This result indicates that Chuanmai 39 and Chuanmai 37 can be favorably used in wheat quality improvement in Sichuan Province.

Key words: Sichuan province, Wheat, Quality performance, Stability of quality traits