Search

The objectives of this article were to determine the content of total dietary fibre (TDF) as well as of its fractions – soluble dietary fibre (SDF) and insoluble dietary fibre (IDF) of different cereals grown by conventional and organic farming in Macedonia, as well as to find out the influence of the cereal type and farming method on their values. Standardized enzymatic-gravimetric method (Megazyme Total Dietary Fiber Kit) was used for determination of soluble, insoluble, and total dietary fiber in 27 different cereal samples of wheat, rye, barley, oat, and millet, which were grown at three locations. The content of TDF, IDF and SDF was influenced by both cereal type and farming type. The organically grown cereals, primarily oat and barley, have shown higher values of TDF and of its fractions than the conventionally grown cereals. Their values (% db) for oat and barley for TDF were 42.00±1.39 and 21.91±2.01, for IDF 39.22±0.58 and 15.06±1.84 and for SDF 2.78±1.25 and 6.85±3.85, respectively. Barley grown by either organic or in conversion farming method proved to have the highest value of SDF content among the other cereals investigated, whereas oat produced by organic farming method exhibited the highest values of TDF and ISF content. The organic farming method proved to have a good perspective in cereal processing and technology, food market and nutrition.

In this paper, the results obtained from the investigations performed on determination of the content of soluble dietary fibre component β-glucan in different cereals grown by conventional and organic farming method are presented. Because dietary fibre and its components have great importance for human and animal nutrition as well as health benefits, it was a need to investigate the content of β-glucan from cereal domestic origin. Standardized enzymatic-gravimetric method-a mixed-linkage β-glucan assay Megazyme Kit (Megazyme, Ireland) was used for determination of β-glucan content in 27 different cereal samples: barley, oat, rye and wheat, grown at three locations during 2013. The mean values of β-glucan content in cereals conventionally grown ranged from 34.41 ± 1.47 g.kg-1 db with barley, through 23.5 ± 4.52 g.kg-1 db and 15.61 ± 0.36 g.kg-1 db with oat and rye, respectively to 5.60 ± 1.02 g.kg-1 db with wheat. The mean values of β-glucan content in analyzed cereals which were organically grown ranged from 33.28 ± 2.34 g.kg-1 db with barley, 21.3 ± 1.87 g.kg-1 db with oat, 15.81 ± 2.30 g.kg-1 db with rye and to 6.04 ± 0.58 g.kg-1 db with wheat. Compared to the other cereals investigated, barley grown by either conventional or organic farming method proved to have the highest content of β-glucan demonstrating its good perspective in cereal processing and technology, food market and human and animal nutrition. The positive/negative correlations allow indirect evaluation of cereals in breeding work aimed at creation of forms with increased/decreased content of β-glucans in grain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]