Abstract

Carotenoids are important phytochemicals contributing nutritional health benefits in the human diet, with a significant contribution from cereals as one of the major food component around the world. Different methods have been described and adopted for the extraction and isolation of carotenoid compounds. Saponification can be seen as an option for carotenoid extraction from cereals as it converts retinol esters to retinol and removes other abundant compounds such as triglycerides. Extraction of carotenoids content of locally adapted and organic cereals have been limitedly investigated and was, therefore, evaluated in the present study, with a specific aim to understand genotypic and local cultivation effects and interactions. Therefore, 17 diverse cereal genotypes of local origin were grown organically in four localities and evaluated for carotenoid content and composition by HPLC. The results showed a large variation in content and composition of carotenoids in locally adapted and organically grown cereal genotypes, with lutein as the dominating type in wheat and rye, while zeaxanthin was the dominating type in barley. High-level genotypes showed values (9.9 mg/kg of total carotenoids) similar to the highest values previously reported in specific types of wheat. The barley genotypes showed relatively high stability in carotenoids content within and between cultivation locations, while large interactions were found with the cultivation location for the rest of the genotypes, indicating their local adaptation. The local adaptation of the cereal genotypes evaluated contributes large opportunities for local production of high value, highly nutritious food products, while the direct value of these genotypes for conventional plant breeding for varieties performing similar over broad environmental ranges, are more limited.

Keywords

organic wheat genotypes; saponification; carotenoids; lutein content; environmental effects

Published in

Processes
2021, Volume: 9, number: 5, article number: 783
Publisher: MDPI

SLU Authors

• Larsson, Hans

  • Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Johansson, Eva

  • Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture


UKÄ Subject classification

Food Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9050783

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/112071