Productive and Qualitative Traits of Amaranthus Cruentus L.: An Unconventional Healthy Ingredient in Animal Feed

Abstract

Agronomic traits, oil content, fatty acid composition, antioxidant activity, and total phenolic content were studied on eight A. cruentus accessions cultivated in Southern Italy. A one-way ANOVA model was performed to compare accessions and the Principal Components Analysis was applied to identify patterns in our dataset and highlight similarities and differences. A. cruentus showed valuable seed yield (0.27 kg/m2, on average) comparable to the main tradition cereals used for animal feeding. Seed-oil composition showed significant differences among the accessions. Data showed a higher lipid content than most cereal grains (from 5.6 to 7.3%). Approximately 60% of fatty acids were unsaturated; linoleic fatty acid ranged from 19 to 34%, oleic acid from 29 to 36%, and alfa-linolenic fatty acid from 0.3 to 0.5%, respectively. The saturated/unsaturated fatty acid ratio ranged from 0.5 to 0.8, the hypocholesterolemic:hypercholesterolaemic ratio from 1.7 to 2.7, the Atherogenic Index from 0.38 to 0.66, the Thrombogenic Index from 0.85 to 1.48, the total phenolic content from 0.14 to 0.36 mg/g seeds, and the antioxidant activity (DPPH•) from 0.30 to 0.50. The studied seed-oil composition evidenced A. cruentus as a healthy ingredient for animal feed and consequently, as a possible substitute for traditional cereals. Accessions from Mexico and Arizona emerged for their high qualitative traits.

Chemical Composition and Metabolomic Analysis of Amaranthus cruentus Grains Harvested at Different Stages

“…The high percentage of unsaturated fatty acids in premature and mature grains is in agreement with the results reported by Nasirpour-Tabrizi et al [ 10 ]. The ratios of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids for mature and premature grains were within the range reported by El Gendy et al [ 33 ] and He et al [ 34 ]; however, the ratios were lower than the 0.61% reported by Gresta et al [ 35 ] in A. cruentus grown in a Mediterranean environment. A. cruentus can be recommended for human and animal health due to the fact of its high content of balanced and favourable fatty acids.…”

Amaranthus grain as a new ingredient in diets for dairy cows: productive, qualitative, and in vitro fermentation traits

“…Direct transesterification of lipids was carried out for fatty acid (FA) analysis via acid methylation of the extracts with 2 mL of a methanol:sulphuric acid (9:1, v/v) mixture for 1 h at 100 °C 20 . Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were dissolved with 1 mL of n ‐hexane, filtered using nylon filters 0.45 μm and injected into a gas chromatography (GC) system with a flame ionization detector (FID) for FAME analysis, as reported in previous papers 5,6 …”

“…method 23 . The absorbance was measured at a wavelength of 725 nm and the results were expressed as mg of gallic acid equivalents per gram (GAE) (mg g −1 ) of sample 5 . Each determination was performed in duplicate.…”

“…20 Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were dissolved with 1 mL of n-hexane, filtered using nylon filters 0.45 μm and injected into a gas chromatography (GC) system with a flame ionization detector (FID) for FAME analysis, as reported in previous papers. 5,6 A quali-quantitative analysis of FAMEs was performed in duplicate by using a GC-FID (TRACE 1310) system provided with an AI 1310 Autoinjector/AS 1310 Autosampler from Thermo Fisher Scientific (Milan, Italy). Chromatographic separation of FAMEs was performed on an Omegawax 250 (Supelco, Bellefonte, PA, USA), 30 m × 0.25 mm, 0.25 μm film thickness (d f ) capillary column using the following GC conditions: oven temperature program: 0-5 min, 100 °C; 5-40 min, 100-240 °C (4 °C min −1 ); 40-60 min, 240 °C; injection volume, 0.5 μL; split ratio, 1:50; injector and detector temperature, 250 °C; carrier gas (He) at a flow rate of mL min −1 ; make-up gas (N 2 ) flow, 40 mL min −1 ; H 2 flow, 35 mL min −1 ; airflow, 350 mL min −1 .…”

“… 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 Until a few decades ago, amaranth species were considered invasive weeds, but in recent years they have gained importance and now they are considered pseudo‐cereals. The grains exhibit a valuable combination of nutritional traits, with a higher crude protein (CP: 130–180 g kg −1 ) and ether extract (EE: 63–81 g kg −1 ) content 5 , 6 than conventional cereals such maize (CP: 100 g kg −1 and EE: 45 g kg −1 ), wheat (CP: 140 g kg −1 and EE: 26 g kg −1 ), rice (CP: 85 g kg −1 and EE: 42 g kg −1 ), 7 , 8 and sorghum (CP: 120 g kg −1 and EE: 40 g kg −1 ) 9 along with a qualified fatty acid profile comprising about 360 g kg −1 of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and 640 g kg −1 of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), the latter mainly represented by oleic (320–330 g kg −1 ) and linoleic (270–280 g kg −1 ) acids. 5 , 6 Moreover, amaranth contains interesting secondary metabolites, which contribute to its potential health benefits, 10 such as phenolic compounds, which are considered to be cholesterol‐lowering, anti‐thrombosis, anti‐inflammatory, anti‐cancer factors , 10 and a potential source of dietary antioxidants.…”