This research project was carried out two times (two seasons) from August to December 2022 and from March to August 2023 in the Western Highlands Agro-ecological zone of Cameroon. The first experimental site was at the University of Bamenda, precisely at COLTECH demonstration farm. The University of Bamenda is located in Tubah Sub Division of the North West Region of Cameroon. It is at some 10km North East of Bamenda city. The latitude and longitude are 6.0N/10.0E with an altitude of 1600m above sea level [18] .

Then, another experiment was conducted in Santa at the Mbei village precisely in the demonstration plot of the Agric post Santa, one of the Sub-divisions in Mezam Division of the North West Region of Cameroon. It is located between latitudes 5˚42' and 5˚53' north of the equator and longitudes 9˚58' and 10˚18' east of the Greenwich Meridian 5. The mean annual temperature of the area varies from 21.8˚C to 30.8˚C. Its annual rainfall is between 2000 - 3000 mm and rainy season starts from March to September and dry season from October to February.

The varieties were evaluated in five environments defined in Table 1 .

Eight wheat varieties were used among which five were coming from CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre), two from IRAD (Institute of Agricultural Research for Development) and one local check used as control ( Table 2 ).

The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) arranged in a factorial way with two replicates using two type of fertilization (poultry manure and N-P-K 20-10-10). Planting was done on the 14^th of August 2022 and on the 20^th of March 2023 at the COLTECH experimental farm whereas in Santa, it was done on the 22 of March 2023.

The first weeding operation was done 4 weeks after planting and continuously done every after 2 weeks. The field was sprayed with cypercot or greforcet a systemic insecticide and Pencozeb 80WP a contact fungicide against insects and fungi pests respectively. Head blight also called Fusarium head blight caused by Fusarium spp was suppressed with the application of a cupper fungicide (Nordox 75WG) at the disease incidence level. The spraying interval was twice a week during moments of high rain intensity, once a week for moderate intensity and once in two weeks during dry spells periods. The field was also covered by mosquito net to prevent pests like birds from eating the produce at the milky stage.

Data were collected on emergence rate, plant height, leaf length, number of leaves, number of tillers and grain weight. The quality parameter was recorded on the 8 wheat cultivars and a locally sold wheat flour (Amigo flour) was used as check. The wet and dry gluten percentage was obtained using the protocol describes by AACCI official method [19] and Schultz [20] . The wet and dry gluten percentage were estimated using the following equations:

$\text{Wet Gluten \%}=\frac{\text{A}}{\text{C}}\times 1\text{00}$

$\text{Dry Gluten \%}=\frac{\text{B}}{\text{C}}\times 100$

where: A = Weight of Wet gluten content (g); B = Weight of Dry gluten content (g); C = Weight of the flour (g).

Wet gluten yield and dry gluten yield were estimated using the following formula:

$\text{Wet gluten yield}=\frac{\text{Weight of wet gluten}}{\text{Weight of wet flour}}$

$\text{Dry gluten yield}=\frac{\text{Weight of dry gluten}}{\text{Weight of dry flour}}$

The moisture content was estimated using the following formula [21] :

$\text{Moisture content}=\frac{\left(\text{weight of wet gluten}-\text{weight of dry gluten}\right)}{\text{weight of wet gluten}}\text{*}100$

The analysis of variance (ANOVA) for various parameters collected was conducted using appropriate statistical software (R). The means were separated using Turkey test at 0.05 level of probability and presented in tables and charts.

Highly significant differences (at 0.1% probability) were observed among varieties, environment and fertilization for all parameters collected ( Table 3 ). Some two-way and three-way interactions expressed also significant differences at 5%, 1% and 0.1% probability whereas others were non-significant. The results indicated that the factors analysed and some of their interactions, affected the parameters studied at various levels. This means that the varieties have different potentials which can be expressed more easily if the soil is amended in the appropriate way. These results were similar with the findings of Ndjadi et al. [7] and Darwish et al., [22] .

*** = highly significant at 0.1%; ** = highly significant at 1%; * = significant at 5%; NS = non-significant at 5% probability level; DF = degrees of freedom.

The general mean of all the traits evaluated was significantly higher when using organic fertilizer than inorganic, meaning that the application of organic fertilizer provides better performance of wheat plant ( Figure 1 ). These results were different from that of Ndjadi et al. [7] who found that the application of organic amendments in combination with chemical fertilizers tends to increase crop yield in comparison to plots where the same fertilizers are used in isolation.

The general mean performance of the traits collected on the tested varieties was higher in Santa than Experimental farm of the University of Bamenda when using organic and inorganic fertilizer ( Figure 2 ). This result revealed that wheat plant performed better in Santa than UBa.

Zheng et al., [23] found in their study that the significantly increases of maximum tiller number, tillering capacity and spike formation rate can be attributed to the improved soil nutrients, since soil nutrients can regulate wheat tillering therefore expressing high level of soil fertility. In the current study, the general mean of tillers (7.5) in Santa was superior to that of UBa (2.7) meaning that Santa soil could be more fertile as compare to that of UBa.

Among the five environments used in this study, environment 1 was found to be the best follow by environment 3 and 5 based on grain weight, number of tillers

and plant height in organic fertilization ( Figure 3 ). Plant emergence rate was higher in environment 5 than the rest. This result was different from the finding of Pireivatlou et al. [24] who stated that the average grain numbers per spike of wheat genotypes were similar in all their study environments. These differences could be due to the variances in agro-ecological factors involved in the study environments.

IRAD I gave the highest yield followed by Alexander Wonder and IRAD II ( Figure 3 ). Similar result was obtained by Tatang et al. [25] in their study when using IRAD I in the Western Highlands of Cameroon.

The type of fertilization showed significant effects on the yield of the varieties. IRAD I, IRAD II and Alexander Wonder were found to be the best based on grain weight ( Figure 4 ). 11SATYND and 29SAWYT were promising introduced varieties in term of grain weight when using organic fertilization. The use of organic fertilizer gives better yield in wheat production than inorganic.

Shillie et al. [4] in their study concluded that Cameroon should engage heavily in local wheat production given that the agro-ecological conditions are favourable for wheat production. Therefore, there is a need of stimulating farmer behavior on wheat production by making available the seeds of the best high-yielding wheat varieties (IRAD I, IRADII and Alexander Wonder) identify in the current study.

Wheat is regularly used in human daily diet in the form of wheat flour. Gluten is a major protein present in wheat. It is the protein part of wheat flour which gives elasticity and strength to dough. In the current study, wet and dry gluten yield varied from 3.8 (ALEXANDER Wonder) to 5.5 (IRAD I) and from 3.7 (IRAD II) to 7.9 (IRAD I) respectively ( Table 4 and Figure 5 ). The check wheat flour (Amigo) gave wet and dry gluten yield of 4.7 and 4.6 respectively. All the introduced wheat varieties expressed low wet and dry gluten yield as compare to Amigo ( Figure 5 ).

Among the gluten-containing cereals only wheat contains gluten that converts flour into a cohesive, viscoelastic dough after mixing with water [13] . Wheat with high gluten content is preferred by many food manufacturing industries because glutenin proteins are long chains responsible for the elasticity of dough. However, Bendale et al. [21] stated that gluten is responsible for digestive discomfort and was found to be allergic therefore it is necessary to select wheat with less gluten content for consumers with dietary needs. The ratio of glutenin to gliadin in gluten had different effects on the digestive characteristics of wheat flours with different gluten strength [26] . Singh and Singh [27] found that crude protein content of wheat gluten ranged from 60.9% to 89.9%.

In the current study, IRADI had high gluten content and can be used for industrial purposes whereas the rest of wheat varieties could be best used for consumption since the gluten yield is less than that of commercial wheat flour Amigo.

The wet gluten percentage varied from 18.32 (Amigo flour) to 69.94% (Alexander Wonder) with the general mean of 50.73% ( Figure 6 and Table 4 ). However, dry gluten percentage ranged from 8.9 (Amigo) to 39.48% (IRAD II). The moisture content ranged from 34.2% (IRAD I) to 56.4% (20HTWYT) with a general mean of 49.2%. The commercial flour expressed moisture content percentage of 51.4%. These results were different from the findings of Singh and Singh [27] who reported the wet gluten content varied from 17.8% to 47.23% among their tested wheat genotypes and the dry gluten content varied from 5.9% to 10.1%. The wheat varieties tested were not the same in the two experiments and it could be the cause of the variation observed. It is therefore important to notice that gluten content varies from one variety to another giving the importance of selection. Nasir et al. [15] reported that moisture has significant effect on crude protein, crude fat, mould growth and insect infestation: protein and fat content decreased with higher moisture content in wheat flour; mould growth and insect infestation were more in treatments having higher moisture during storage with no infestation in the treatments with lower moisture content (9%). In the present study, IRAD I, 42ESWYTB and IRAD II were found to have their moisture content percentage below that of the commercial flour Amigo and therefore could be recommended for further use.