The content and quality of starch in different wheat varieties growing in experimental conditions

Abstract

Wheat is the most important bread crop and the primary food source of human nutrition in our climate conditions. Its dominant constituent, i.e., starch typically comprises 20-30 % amylose and 80-70 % amylopectin. Due to positive impacts on human health, starches with elevated contents of amylose are of interest to scientific communities and plant breeders. Based on the modern trends of nutrition, the current study was aimed to evaluate the quality of various wheat grains in terms of starch content and its composition. For this purpose, grains of total 10 wheat varieties (Víg'ašská tvrdá, Mironovská, Viglanka, Puqa, Scorpion, Víg'ašská červená, Bonavita, Zirnita, Durgalova and Badurka) of three species (common, colored, emmer) obtained from the Research Institute of Plant Production in Pieša'ny (Slovak Republic) were analysed. The content of starch was determined by Ewers polarimetric method and the amylose/amylopectin ratio was assessed using a commercial kit (Megazyme Co., Wicklow, Ireland). We observed statistically significant differences in the starch content between common wheat varieties, implying higher amount of starch in modern varieties, and between color wheat varieties. Significantly different amylose contents were found only among colored varieties which were negatively correlated to the amount of starch. Taken together, according to our results it can be concluded that the amount and nutritional composition of wheat grain starch is influenced by the variety of wheat.