Grain Germination Changes the Profile of Phenolic Compounds and Benzoxazinoids in Wheat: A Study on Hard and Soft Cultivars
Julia Baranzelli,
Sabrina Somacal,
Camila Sant’Anna Monteiro,
Renius de Oliveira Mello,
Eliseu Rodrigues,
Osmar Damian Prestes,
Rosalía López-Ruiz,
Antonia Garrido Frenich,
Roberto Romero-González,
Martha Zavariz de Miranda,
Tatiana Emanuelli
Affiliations
Julia Baranzelli
Department of Food Technology and Science, Center of Rural Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria 97105-900, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Sabrina Somacal
Department of Food Technology and Science, Center of Rural Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria 97105-900, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Camila Sant’Anna Monteiro
Department of Food Technology and Science, Center of Rural Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria 97105-900, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Renius de Oliveira Mello
Department of Food Technology and Science, Center of Rural Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria 97105-900, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Eliseu Rodrigues
Department of Food Science, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 91501-970, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Osmar Damian Prestes
Department of Chemistry, Center of Natural and Exact Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria 97105-900, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Rosalía López-Ruiz
Research Group ‘Analytical Chemistry of Contaminants’, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Research Center for Mediterranean Intensive Agrosystems and Agri-Food Biotechnology (CIAIMBITAL), University of Almeria, 04120 Almeria, Spain
Antonia Garrido Frenich
Research Group ‘Analytical Chemistry of Contaminants’, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Research Center for Mediterranean Intensive Agrosystems and Agri-Food Biotechnology (CIAIMBITAL), University of Almeria, 04120 Almeria, Spain
Roberto Romero-González
Research Group ‘Analytical Chemistry of Contaminants’, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Research Center for Mediterranean Intensive Agrosystems and Agri-Food Biotechnology (CIAIMBITAL), University of Almeria, 04120 Almeria, Spain
Martha Zavariz de Miranda
Grain Quality Laboratory, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation-Embrapa Trigo, Passo Fundo 99050-970, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Tatiana Emanuelli
Department of Food Technology and Science, Center of Rural Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria 97105-900, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Pre-harvest sprouting is a frequent problem for wheat culture that can be simulated by laboratory-based germination. Despite reducing baking properties, wheat sprouting has been shown to increase the bioavailability of some nutrients. It was investigated whether wheat cultivars bearing distinct grain texture characteristics (BRS Guaraim, soft vs. BRS Marcante, hard texture) would have different behavior in terms of the changes in phytochemical compounds during germination. Using LC-Q-TOF-MS, higher contents of benzoxazinoids and flavonoids were found in the hard cultivar than in the soft one. Free phytochemicals, mainly benzoxazinoids, increased during germination in both cultivars. Before germination, soft and hard cultivars had a similar profile of matrix-bound phytochemicals, but during germination, these compounds have been shown to decrease only in the hard-texture cultivar, due to decreased levels of phenolic acids (trans-ferulic acid) and flavonoids (apigenin) that were bound to the cell wall through ester-type bonds. These findings confirm the hypothesis that hard and soft wheat cultivars have distinct behavior during germination concerning the changes in phytochemical compounds, namely the matrix-bound compounds. In addition, germination has been shown to remarkably increase the content of benzoxazinoids and the antioxidant capacity, which could bring a health-beneficial appeal for pre-harvested sprouted grains.
