Relationship of Grain Fructan Content to Degree of Polymerisation in Different Barleys

Csilla Nemeth, Annica A. M. Andersson, Roger Andersson, Elke Mangelsen, Chuanxin Sun, Per Åman

Department of Food Science, BioCentre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Plant Biology and Forest Genetics, BioCentre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden.

DOI: 10.4236/fns.2014.56068                

Abstract

Fructans are important in the survival of plants and also valuable for humans as potentially health promoting food ingredients. In this study fructan content and composition were determined in grains of 20 barley breeding lines and cultivars with a wide variation in chemical composition, morphology and country of origin, grown at one site in Chile. There was significant genotypic variation in grain fructan content ranging from 0.9% to 4.2% of grain dry weight. Fructan degree of polymerisation (DP) was analysed using high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD). Changes in the distribution of different chain lengths and the pattern of structures of fructan were detected with increasing amount of fructan in the different barleys. A positive correlation was found between fructan content and the relative amount of long chain fructan (DP > 9) (r = 0.54, p = 0.021). Our results provide a basis for selecting promising barley lines and cultivars for further research on fructan in barley breeding with the aim to produce healthy food products.

Keywords

Fructan; Barley; Hordeum vulgare L.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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