5 research outputs found
Baseline status and effect of genotype, environment and genotype × environment interactions on iron and zinc content in Indian chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.)
Genotypic and environmental effects on wheat technological and nutritional quality
International audienceTechnological (processing performance and end-product) and nutritional quality of wheat is in principle determined by a number of compounds within the wheat grain, including proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, minerals, heavy metals, vitamins and phytochemicals, effecting these characters. The genotype and environment is of similar importance for the determination of the content and composition of these compounds. Furthermore, the interaction between genotypes and the cultivation environment may play a significant role. Many studies have evaluated whether the genotype or the environment plays the major role in determining the content of the mentioned compounds. An overall conclusion of these studies is that except for compounds encoded by single major genes, importance of certain factors mainly depend on how wide environments and how diverse cultivars are within these comparative studies. Comparing environments all over, e.g. across Latin America, ends up with a high significance of the environment while large studies including genotypes of wide genetic background result in a significant role for the genotype. In addition, for some technological properties and components, genotype has a higher effect (e.g. grain hardness and gluten proteins), while environment influences stronger on others (e.g. protein and mineral content).Content and concentration of proteins, but also to some extent of starch, some non-starch polysaccharides and lipids, are essential in determining the technological quality of a wheat flour. For nutritional quality of the flour, the majority of the compounds are together the important determinant. Thus an increased understanding of environmental effects is essential. As to how the environment is influencing the content of the compounds, there are some differences. The protein content and composition is strongly affected by environmental factors influencing nitrogen availability and cultivar development time. However, these two factors are impacted by a range of environmental (temperature, precipitation, humidity/sun hours, etc.) and agronomic (soil properties, crop management practices such as seeding density, nitrogen fertilizer application timing and amount, etc.) components. Thus, to understand the interplay between the various environmental and agronomic factors impacting the technological quality of a wheat flour, modeling is a useful tool. Several other compounds, including minerals and heavy metals, are to a higher extent determined by site specific variation, resulting in similar rankings of entries across locations, although the total content is varying among years. The bioactive compounds and vitamins are a part of the defense mechanisms of plants and thus there is a variation in these compounds depending on prevailing biotic and abiotic stresses (heat, drought, excess rainfall, nutrition, diseases and pests). Thus, even for nutritional quality of wheat, incorporating all compounds of relevance in the evaluation would benefit from modeling tools
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal inoculation and soil zinc fertilisation affect the productivity and the bioavailability of zinc and iron in durum wheat
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The impact of processing on potentially beneficial wheat grain components for human health
Wheat based foods, mainly in the form of bread and pasta, are staples of the human diet in many countries around the world. The dry weight of mature wheat grain is composed of 70–75% starch and around 10–14% protein, which has led to the widespread perception of wheat foods as sources of energy and protein. However, whole grains are also important sources of dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals, and contain notable levels of bioactive compounds with potential health benefits like lignans, phenolic acids, alkylresorcinols, phytosterols, folates and tocols. The prominence of wheat grain in the human diet is largely due to its versatility in being processed into diverse products like flour, semolina, and other bakery products. Processing is a pre-requisite for using cereal grains as food and obtaining end products with various unique properties that are safe and appealing to consume. Processing may also help reduce the amount of hazardous molecules potentially present in harvested wheat, such as pesticides, mycotoxins and heavy metals. Each regulated step in a processing series influences the composition and/or the physicochemical properties of the different grain components, which in turn define the technological quality and the nutritional and health promoting properties of the end product. The unique textural properties of wheat foods are largely determined by the starch and gluten proteins present in the starchy endosperm, the main constituents of white flour and semolina. The health-promoting effects of wheat-based products are mainly associated with the dietary fiber and bioactive compounds that are enriched in the grain peripheral layers, and mainly the aleurone layer, which is generally a component of the bran fraction after milling. Fractionation by milling and the way the different milling streams are subsequently recombined therefore has a considerable impact on the relative abundance of each grain component in the wheat flour/semolina and, consequently, in end products. Further processing steps, such as dough making, microbial fermentation, extrusion, and baking can also affect the relative amounts and bioavailability of grain components. Some examples of the effects of grain processing procedures on the bioavailability of important grain components in wheat foods consumed by humans will be presented in this chapter. Suggestions of how to improve these processes in light of the implications for human health will also be discussed