Evaluation of barley grass as a potential source of some nutritional substances

Abstract

The relation between nutrition and health has been unequivocally established. Wrong eating habits and losses of nutritional factors during technological processing, storage, and culinary treatments can lead to the diet deficient in some nutritional factors. Barley green matter was analysed for the contents of vitamin C, total polyphenols, phenolic compounds, proteins, amino acids, and saccharides; the activity of catalase was also determined. The contents of vitamin C, total polyphenols, and ferulic acid decreased with the age of barley plants. The influence of the variety has not been proved unequivocally. The contents of vitamin C between 0.107-6.357 g/kg DM, of total polyphenols between 17.167-35.559 g/kg DM, and of ferulic acid between 0-5.916 g/kg DM were found. Catalase activity amounted to 4.5-29.7 TSU. The monosaccharide profile showed high contents of glucose (15.40-88.40 g/kg DM) and fructose (37.60-81.40 g/kg DM) which decreased with the plant growth. The contents of saccharose and galactose were low, ranging between 0-7.70 g/kg DM and 3.70-5.30 g/kg DM, respectively. The relations between their contents and the growth phase were insignificant. The total amino acid content decreased with the plant age. High contents of aspartic (15.232-28.682 g/kg DM) and glutamic acids (16.694-35.526 g/kg DM), as well as minimal contents of sulphur amino acids, especially methionin (2.586-5.03 g per kg DM), could be noted. The highest catalase activity was found in the early growth phase (18.5-35.1 TSU), being higher in all samples grown at the location Kroměříž. The yield of juice pressed out from frozen green matter amounted to 68%. The pressed out juice was preserved by fluid drying, freeze drying, and freezing. In respect to folates and total polyphenols contents and the antioxidant activity, freezing appears the most suitable procedure for preserving.

Model Examination for the Effect of Treading Stress on Young Green Barley (<i>Hordeum vulgare</i>)

“…Although, the amino acid levels are influenced by the condition of cultivation, such as soil, fertilizers, temperature, and so on, these high concentrations of 3 kinds of amino acid in our test were the same as those reported previously [22]. Urquhart and Joy's [23] reported that asparagic acid promotes the metabolism of aged leaves in leguminous plants such as Pisum sativum.…”

Antioxidant activity and DNA protective properties of rice grass juices

“…Hydroxyl groups and their resonance stabilization effects on the phenol rings of phenolic compounds are responsible for plant antioxidant activity [30][31][32][33] . A positive correlation between antioxidant activity and the phenolic content of crude extracts has been demonstrated among different plant parts and species such as rice bran 11 , wild Indian black plums 34 , barley grass 35 , and common edible fruits 36 . In this study, Pearson correlation coefficients (R) indicated a relationship between the antioxidant activity, TPC, and TMAC of rice grass and wheatgrass juices ( Table 3).…”

Health promoting properties of young barley

“…• aminokwasy: tryptofan, kwas glutaminowy, alanina, kwas asparaginowy, metionina, arginina, lizyna, cystyna, glicyna, histydyna, izoleucyna, leucyna, fenyloalanina, prolina, seryna, treonina, tyrozyna, walina, małe polipeptydy [8]; • witaminy: A, B1, B2, B3, B4, B6, B7, C, E, K [8,9,10,11]; • minerały i pierwiastki śladowe: cynk, selen, fosfor, potas, wapń, bor, chrom, kobalt, miedź, jod, żelazo, magnez, mangan, nikiel, sód, siarka [9,11]; • kwasy tłuszczowe: linolenowy i linolowy [9].…”

“…Tę samą korelację zaobserwowano w przypadku analizy zawartości glukozy (15,40-88,40 g/kg) i fruktozy (37,60-81,40 g/kg). Ponadto, u najmłodszych roślin odnotowano najwyższą aktywność katalazy (18,5-35,1 TSU) [8]. Przytoczone dane korespondują z wynikami wieloletnich badań Kazuhiko Kubota, który już we wczesnych latach 90.…”

“…Doskonałym ich źródłem może być młody jęczmień, który zawiera m.in. O-glikozyl izowiteksynę (2-O-GIV, 2-O-glycosyl isovitexin) [11,16,23,24], dysmutazę ponadtlenkową (SOD) [11,25,26,27,28], katalazę (CAT) [8,25], peroksydazę (POX) [27], witaminy E i C [8,9,10,11), karotenoidy [11] oraz chlorofil [9,11].…”