Tritordeum as an Innovative Alternative to Wheat: A Comparative Digestion Study on Bread

Abstract

Tritordeum results from the crossbreeding of a wild barley (Hordeum chilense) species with durum wheat (Triticum turgidum spp. turgidum). This hexaploid crop exhibits agronomic and rheological characteristics like soft wheat, resulting in an innovative raw material to produce baked goods. We applied a gel-based proteomic approach on refined flours to evaluate protein expression differences among two widespread tritordeum cultivars (Aucan and Bulel) taking as the reference semolina and flour derived from a durum and a soft wheat cvs, respectively. The products of in vitro digestion of model breads were analyzed to compare bio-accessibility of nutrients and mapping tritordeum bread resistant peptides. Significant differences among the protein profiles of the four flours were highlighted by electrophoresis. The amino acid bio-accessibility and the reducing sugars of tritordeum and wheat breads were comparable. Tritordeum cvs had about 15% higher alpha-amino nitrogen released at the end of the duodenal simulated digestion than soft wheat (p < 0.05). Bulel tritordeum flour, bread and digested bread had about 55% less R5-epitopes compared to the soft wheat. Differences in protein expression found between the two tritordeum cvs reflected in diverse digestion products and allergenic and celiacogenic potential of the duodenal peptides. Proteomic studies of a larger number of tritordeum cvs may be successful in selecting those with good agronomical performances and nutritional advantages.

Interspecific hybridization and plant breeding: From historical retrospective through work of Mendel to current crops

“…Testing of various Hordeum species has ultimately led to the successful amphiploid cross of Hordeum chilense (2n = 2x = 14, H ch H ch ) and Triticum turgidum (2n = 4x = 28, BBAA) which resulted in ×Tritordeum martini Pujadas (Martín et al 1999). Two cultivars obtained by backcrossing the amphiploid to wheat in order to change the cytoplasm from barley to wheat were released and ×Tritordeum is today commercialized with rheological and baking performances similar to bread wheat (Visioli et al 2020;Nitride et al 2022). Moreover, compared to wheat, it shows https://doi.org/10.17221/19/2022-CJGPB better tolerance to drought, a key trait in current breeding.…”