Antioxidant capacity and vitamin E in barley: Effect of genotype and storage

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Antioxidants, including vitamin E, may have a positive effect on human health and prolong storage of food items. Vitamin E content and antioxidant capacity were measured in 25 barley genotypes before and after 4 months storage at 10 °C using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ability to scavenge DPPH radicals, respectively. As expected, α-tocotrienol (α-T3) and α-tocopherol (α-T) were the predominant tocol isomers. Vitamin E content and antioxidant capacity varied significantly among genotypes. Vitamin E ranged from 8.5 to 31.5 μg/g dry weight (DW) while ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant capacity (AEAC) varied from 57.2 to 158.1 mg AEAC/100 g fresh weight (FW). Generally, lower vitamin E content or antioxidant capacity was observed in hulless or coloured genotypes. These results suggest that some genotypes are potential candidates for breeding of barley cultivars with high vitamin E content or antioxidant capacity at harvest, even after storage

Effect of malting on antioxidant capacity and vitamin E content in different barley genotypes

© 2015 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling.Unprocessed barley is known to contain relatively high levels of antioxidants, which play a critical role in human health and the preservation of food and drink products. However, there are limited data on how the antioxidant levels in barley are affected by malting, and whether the level of antioxidants in the processed malt differs between barley varieties. This study aimed to determine the levels of individual vitamin E isomers, total vitamin E content and total antioxidant capacity before, during and after malting in 12 covered and two hulless barley genotypes. Vitamin E content and antioxidant capacity were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ability to scavenge DPPH radicals, respectively. The vitamin E content of most genotypes was reduced after steeping, germination and kilning compared with the unprocessed samples. However, the antioxidant capacity in the malt was higher than in the unprocessed samples for the majority of the genotypes. While there was variation in the percentage change in antioxidant capacity between varieties, the antioxidant capacity of samples after malting was directly correlated with their antioxidant capacity before processing (r=0.9, n=14, p<0.05). These results indicate that barley varieties that have higher antioxidant capacity at harvest retain their antioxidants after malting. Thus, these varieties are likely to be the most suitable for producing malts with the added health benefits and anti-spoiling properties associated with greater antioxidant content