Metabolite Profiling of Wheat Grains (Triticum aestivumL.) from Organic and Conventional Agriculture

Abstract

In some European community countries up to 8% of the agricultural area is managed organically. The aim was to obtain a metabolite profile for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grains grown under comparable organic and conventional conditions. These conditions cannot be found in plant material originating from different farms or from products purchased in supermarkets. Wheat grains from a long-term biodynamic, bioorganic, and conventional farming system from the harvest 2003 from Switzerland were analyzed. The presented data show that using a high throughput GC-MS technique, it was possible to determine relative levels of a set of 52 different metabolites including amino acids, organic acids, sugars, sugar alcohols, sugar phosphates, and nucleotides from wheat grains. Within the metabolites from all field trials, there was at the most a 50% reduction comparing highest and lowest mean values. The statistical analysis of the data shows that the metabolite status of the wheat grain from organic and mineralic farming did not differ in concentrations of 44 metabolites. This result indicates no impact or a small impact of the different farming systems. In consequence, we did not detect extreme differences in metabolite composition and quality of wheat grains.

Influence of germination temperatures on the chemical composition of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seeds

“…From these results it is evident that the fructose content increases due to the germination of wheat seeds. This conclusion is consistent with Zörb et al (2006), who studied the chemical composition of wheat seeds. It also confirmed the conclusions of Bogdan and Zagdańska (2006), who claimed that the increase of fructose concentration in wheat seeds resulted from their rehydration.…”

A metabolite profiling approach to follow the sprouting process of mung beans (Vigna radiata)

“…The number of identified compounds in mung beans is in the same order of magnitude as for comparable metabolite profiling studies on rice (Shu et al 2008) and maize (Röhlig et al 2009). For wheat, metabolite profiling allowed the detection of 250 distinct peaks and the identification of 52 compounds in the polar extract (Zörb et al 2006). For the determination of recovery rates in intact mung bean seeds, 300 mg of freeze-dried flour was used.…”

Birds select conventional over organic wheat when given free choice

“…Studies of organic versus conventional wheat, for example, have not tended to detect increased levels of phenolics or stress-related metabolites in that grown organically. 17,38,39 Similarly, no difference was found between the phenolic content of organic and conventional oats. 40 Added to this the fact that commercial cereals tend to be very low in defence chemicals such as tannins regardless of regime, 28 differences in secondary metabolite levels are unlikely to be driving the preference for conventional food in the current study.…”

“…Wheat is the most important agricultural crop worldwide, with a production of 585 × 10 6 tons per annum, 17 and is known to be eaten by a wide range of farmland bird species 18 (e.g. yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella, house sparrow Passer domesticus, corn bunting Emberiza calandra).…”