Variations in Content and Extractability of Durum Wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var durum) Arabinoxylans Associated with Genetic and Environmental Factors

Abstract

Arabinoxylans (AX) represent the most abundant components of non-starch polysaccharides in wheat, constituting about 70% of cell wall polysaccharides. An important property of AX is their ability to form highly viscous water solutions; this peculiarity has a significant impact on the technological characteristics of wheat and determines the physiologically positive influence in consumption. Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var durum), the raw material for pasta production, is one of the most important crops in Italy. As part of a large project aimed at improving durum wheat quality, the characterization of the nutritional and technological aspects of whole grains was considered. Particular attention was addressed to identify the best suited genotypes for the production of innovative types of pasta with enhanced functional and organoleptic properties. The objective of the present study was to investigate the genetic variability of AX by examining a group of durum wheat genotypes collected at two localities in Italy for two consecutive years. The environmental influence on AX content and extractability was also evaluated. Variability in the AX fraction contents was observed; the results indicated that AX fractions of durum wheat grain can be affected by the genotype and environment characteristics and the different contribution of genotype and environment to total variation was evidenced. The genotype × environment (G × E) interaction was significant for all examined traits, the variations due to G × E being lower than that of genotype or environment. The data and the statistical analysis allowed identification of the Italian durum wheat varieties that were consistently higher in total arabinoxilans; in addition, principal component analysis biplots illustrated that for arabinoxylan fractions some varieties responded differently in various environment climatic conditions.

Preliminary evaluation of durum wheat (Triticum Turgidum Subsp Durum) during malting process

“…Simeto had higher AX levels and A/X ratio than Vivant, respectively, 4.9% of db with A/X ratio of 0.68 and 3.9% db with A/X ratio of 0.63. These results are in accordance with those proposed for durum wheat in other research (Ciccoritti, Scalfati, Cammerata, & Sgrulletta, ). The germination energy (GE %) was high for both wheats, and the observed values were about 97%.…”

Genome Wide Association Mapping for Arabinoxylan Content in a Collection of Tetraploid Wheats

“…In classical quantitative genetic studies, the construction of linkage maps in biparental populations has allowed the estimation of the number of loci controlling genetic variation in segregating populations, and has led to the characterization of loci with regard to gene action, phenotypic effects, pleiotropic effects and epistatic interactions with other QTL [ 9 ]. In hexaploid wheat, several studies have demonstrated the variability of AX content confirming the quantitative nature of this trait [ 10 ], which has been shown to vary from 4% to 9% [ 2 ] compared to 4% and 6% of the total grain weight in tetraploid wheat [ 11 ]. However, inheritance and environmentally correlated changes are not well defined, especially in durum wheat.…”

Functional and health-endorsing properties of wheat and barley cell wall’s non-starch polysaccharides

“…Arabinoxylans are paramount component of the dietary fiber in cereals and belong to the group of NSP. [76,77] They are major NSP present in endosperm and outer layers of cereals mainly wheat grains constituting cell wall of various types of cereal grains. [54,[78][79][80][81] About 70% of the cell wall's NSP are arabinoxylans.…”