Analysis on Carotenoids Content and Other Quality Traits of 185 Wheat Varieties

Jian ZHOU，Yuanyuan WU，Wenyin ZHENG，Wenming ZHANG，Wenshang GUO，Danian YAO，*

1.College of Agronomy，Anhui Agricultural University/Co-Innovation Center for Grain Crops of Anhui Province，Hefei 230036，China；

2.Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops，Yangzhou University，Yangzhou 225009，China

Analysis on Carotenoids Content and Other Quality Traits of 185 Wheat Varieties

Jian ZHOU1，Yuanyuan WU1，Wenyin ZHENG1，Wenming ZHANG1，Wenshang GUO2，Danian YAO1，2*

1.College of Agronomy，Anhui Agricultural University/Co-Innovation Center for Grain Crops of Anhui Province，Hefei 230036，China；

2.Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops，Yangzhou University，Yangzhou 225009，China

In order to provide the reference of improving the nutritional quality traits in carotenoids and screening its resources of wheat varieties，185 wheat varieties or lines were selected as materials to test the carotenoids content，lipoxygenase activ-ity，whiteness，yellowness and some other quality traits of whole mill in wheat.The results showed that there were highly significant variations in lipoxygenase activity，carotenoids content，whiteness and yellowness among those sample of wheat vari-eties；carotenoids content was significantly and positively correlated with yellowness. Cluster analysis was performed based on carotenoids content clustered all the vari-eties or lines into three major groups.Additionally，carotenoids were discussed in the application of nutritional quality improvement in wheat.

Wheat；Carotenoid；LOX；Quality traits；Relationship

C arotenoid is a main factor in-fluencing wheatflourcolor，processing quality and flour products fragrance.As a kind of natu-ral plant pigment，it includes lutein，uranidin，zeaxanthin，lycopene and vi-olet etc.According to their chemical structure，carotenoid could be divided into two categories：one is carotene accounting for about 10%and the oth-er is carotenoid （oxygenated com-pounds known as lutein），representing about 90%.Studies have shown that carotenoids can provide pro-vitamin A to prevent and control chronic dis-eases，it's an indispensable material and also a good antioxidant［1-2］.Liu［3］re-searched that through oxidative degra-dation the carotenoids will finally gen-erate some important ingredients of the aroma in wheat flour.Thereafter，breeding and varieties screening are important ways to improve carotenoid content of wheat.

Lipoxygenase （LOX）is a kind of non-heme iron（NHI）-containing protein existing universally in plant［4-5］，which catalyzes the incorporation of molecu-lar oxygen into polyunsaturated fatty acids containing a cis，cis-1，4-penta-diene moiety and generates the hy-drogen peroxide with conjugated dou-ble bond.LOX in wheat is a major fac-tor affecting the storage properties and color of the wheat grain and flour.Re-sult showed that low LOX activity can effectively slow the lipid oxidation re-action，which could delay the oxidation spoilage of fat to extend its storing time and reduce the losing［6］.

In this experiment，185 Chinese wheat varieties （lines）from herba-ceous plant were used to analyze the variety difference on quality traits such as carotenoid （CAR），lipoxygenase（LOX），chromaticity parameters and near-infrared parameters etc.In addi-tion，the correlation between the CAR and the other quality traits was also studied to provided the reference for resource screening on quality traits and quality improvement.

Materials and Methods

Material

The materials were 185 wheat va-rieties（lines）from northern provinces such as Henan，Shandong etc.，southern provinces such as Jiangsu，Anhuietc.and also from foreign countries.

Methods

Allthe tested materials were planted on an experimental farm of AnhuiAgriculturalUniversity from 2013 to 2014.Specifically，each vari-ety（lines）was grown in a plot and ev-ery plot was arranged with 2 rows，with the length of 2 m and lines pacing of 0.25 m.The field management was the same as local method，for exam-ple，threshing proceeds after harvest-ing，and drying after indoor airtight storage in the next three months.

Allthe tested materials were cleaned up，and tempered for 24 h. Then，moisturecontentshould be controlled at 14%with a rapid moisture tester PM-8188 and the materials were smashed with a pulverizer SCINOCT-410（FOSS company）and sifted with a sieve（0.5 mm）to remove the bigger bran.Finally，the materials was sealed in kraft paper bags and stored in a re-frigerator.

Determination of carotenoids con-tentAccording to AACC method 14-50［13］，this research also slightly im-proved carotenoidstesting method on the other plants.Specifically，2 g whole wheat flour was poured into a 40 ml centrifuge tube and added with water-saturated butanol，followed by oscillation extraction in 1 h.Subse-quently，the tuber was stood there for 15 minutes，followed by centrifugationat 10 000 r/min for 10 min at room temperature.As a result，the super-natant was obtained and the absorp-tion values can be determined at 440 nm by spectrophotometry of Puxi TU-1810，with three replications.The con-tent of carotenoids （mg/kg）=C×V/m，where C is the corresponding concen-tration based on the absorbance，V is the volume of the carotenoids solution（ml），and m is the quality of the whole mill（g）.

Measurement of the other quality traits LOX activity in wheat was de-termined by spectrophotometry from Larisa Catod［14］with three replications. The values of L，a and b in the whole mill were obtained with a CR410 color-difference meter，and repeated three times.Besides，whiteness was con-cluded based on the hunter whiteness formula（Wht=100-［（100-L）2+a2+b2］），and in the experiment，near Infrared Spectroscopy （NIS）of 1255 system was used to determinate protein，wet gluten and starch contents and repeat- ed three times.

Data analysis

The variance and correlation analysis were performed with the DPS software.

Results and Analysis

The distribution of 185 wheat vari-eties or lines on carotenoids con-tents

The results showed that the range of 185 varieties of carotenoids content was from 0.747 to 3.656 mg/kg.There were two varieties in the range of 0.747-0.999 mg/kg，three in 1.000-1.249 mg/kg，173 in 1.250-2.999 mg/kg，4 in 3.000-3.249 mg/kg，just one in 3.250-3.499 mg/kg and one in 3.500-3.656 mg/kg.This experiment targeted at selecting 3%germplasm resources of the highest and lowest carotenoids content and finally gained 6 varieties of high carotenoids con-tents such as Meng 0318 and 5 vari-eties oflow such as Lunxuan22（Table 1）.

Variance analysis and varieties dif-ference of four quality traits

The results of analysis of variance showed that difference on carotenoids content，LOX activity，whiteness and yellowness in the wheatvarieties sample all reached extremely signifi-cant level.The table 3 showed that for 185 varieties，the range of carotenoids content was 0.747-3.656 mg/kg with an averageof2.046 mg/kg.The carotenoids contentofMeng0318 reached the highest，which is 4.89 times of the lowest（Lunxuan22）.The range of LOX activity was 18.35-111.7 AU/（min·g）with an average of 45.1 AU/（min·g），the whiteness in-36.69--16.18 with an average of-23.65，the yellowness in 8.06-13.54 with an av-erage of 10.84，the protein content in 12.5%-19.2%with the average of 15.02%，the starch content in 61.2%-68.8%with the average of 65.31%and the wet gluten in 31.0%-45.5%with an average of 37.03%.

Table 1 The number of 185 varieties of carotenoids content distribution

Table 2 Variance analysis of lipoxygenase activity，carotenoid content and whole wheat flour whiteness，yellowness of wheat varieties tested

Table 3 Statistical result of 7 whole mill quality traits in 185 varieties

Table 4 Correlation analysis of CAR with other quality traits

Correlation analysis among carotenoids content and the other quality traits

Table 4 showed that carotenoids content was positively correlated with yellowness（P＜0.01）and LOX activity（P＜0.05），while the LOX activity is negative correlated with starch content（P＜0.01），positive correlated with yellowness （P＜0.01）and positive correlated with protein and wet gluten（P＜0.01）.Starch content is negative correlated with protein，wet gluten and yellowness （P＜0.01），while positive correlated with whiteness（0.01）.The whiteness is negative correlated with yellowness（P＜0.01）.

The clustering analysis of caro-tenoid content

The results showed that through cluster analysis，185 wheat samples could be divided into three categories and the first category contained 77 varieties such asYangmai9，Yannong19 and Haoyou9409 etc. and the carotenoid contents ranged from 0.747 to 1.888 mg/kg with an average of 1.575 mg/kg.The second categorycontained 75 varieties such asYang-mai15，Neixiang 188 and Zhou99343 with the carotenoids content ranging from 1.912 to 2.557 mg/kg with an av-erage of 2.188 mg/kg.The third cate-gory contained 33 varieties such as Huaimai 22，Huapei 212 and Huaimai 22 with the carotenoid content ranging from 2.582 to 3.656 mg/kg with an av-erage of 2.826 mg/kg（Fig.1）.

Discussion

Carotenoid is an significant co-pigment in plant photosynthesis and an oxidation protective agent，playing an important biological function in hu-man nutrition and health［8］.For com-monwheat，therearedifferences among varieties in termsof carotenoids content，LOX activity，whiteness and yellowness［9］Pham［10］believed that wheat carotenoid had a high level of genetic diversity and higher heritability，which helps screening the materials of high and low content of carotenoids resources on the basis of breeding objective.Hybridization and conven-tionality breeding could effectively im-prove the carotenoid content of wheat grain［11］.Therefore，conventional bree-ding method is a quite effective way for breeders in carotenoid improvements in wheat［12］.

In this experiment，the result showed that the differences among va-rieties in carotenoid content，LOX ac-tivity， whiteness and yellowness reached significant or extremely signifi-cant levels. It turned out that carotenoids content and other quality properties are greatly influenced by the genotype.Carotenoid content was significantly positively correlated with yellowness of whole mill，which is dif-ferent from the result from Wangfan［1］，which was attributed to the different types of materials used，the environ-ment and the different years.This ex-periment tried to take 3%of the re-sources to screen six varieties of high-er carotenoid content such as Meng0318 and five varieties of lower content such as Lunxuan 22.Howev-er，carotenoids and the other quality traits on nutritional quality improve-ment should be taken into considera-tion，which should be further explored and improved.

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Responsible editor：Xiaoxue WANG

Responsible proofreader：Xiaoyan WU

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Should the article be accepted and published by Agricultural Science&Technology，the author hereby grants exclusively to the editorial department of Agricultural Science&Technology the digital reproduction，distribution，compilation and information network transmission rights.

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China（No.31371615，31071404）

*Corresponding author.E-mail：dnyao@163.com

Received：July 20，2015 Accepted：August 25，2015