Abstract: This work studied the effect of ozone treatment at a flow rate of 15 g/h combined with closed packaging on the physicochemical properties (color, wet?gluten content, gluten index, protein subunit distribution and falling number), gelatinization properties and stability (reducing sugar content, sedimentation value and total number of colonies) of wheat (cv. Gaoyou 2018) harvested in 2018 during storage. The results showed that compared with the control group, ozone treatment for 15 min slowed down the decrease in the gelatinization temperature of wheat starch. At the end of the 70-day storage period, L* and whiteness values in the treated sample increased, protein aggregates/subunits degraded, peak viscosity, breakdown and reducing sugar content declined, sedimentation value enhanced, the reduction rate of bacteria reached 94.68%. Nevertheless, there was no significant difference in final viscosity, gluten index, wet gluten content or falling number. Ozone treatment combined with closed packaging could significantly delay wheat quality deterioration, especially in terms of total number of colonies, reducing sugar content and sedimentation value. Therefore, ozone treatment is a green and effective method to retard wheat quality deterioration during storage.

Key words: ozone; wheat; physicochemical indicators; gelatinization properties; storage stability; green grain storage