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Hulled wheats in Italy today
No full textEinkorn (Triticum monococcum subsp. monococcum), emmer (Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum) and spelt (Triticum aestivum subsp. spelta) are hulled wheats, i.e. wheats with glumes that tightly envelop the kernels even after harvesting. Staple food of humankind for several thousand years, they are currently cropped only in limited areas and represent a minimal part of total wheat production. Current trends towards low-impact and sustainable agriculture as well as an ever-increasing interest in the nutritional aspects of food suggest that the hulled wheats may still play a role in human consumption.
Today in Italy, out of a total wheat area of 1 800 000 ha (mostly durum wheat), hulled wheats or “farri” cover less than 4000 ha. Einkorn is cropped on ~300 ha, scattered across the country but with a core area in the Po plain south of Brescia. Emmer is the most diffused hulled wheat, cultivated on ~3000 ha along the peninsula mountain range, from Tuscany to Molise. The “farro della Garfagnana”, cropped in a mountainous area of Tuscany, received in 1996 the European IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta), i.e. geographic identity protected by law, while in Umbria the “Farro di Monteleone di Spoleto” was awarded in 2010 a DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) by the European Community. The third hulled wheat species, spelt, is managed mainly in central Italy and Alto Adige (Süd Tyrol) on about 500 ha.
The increasing cultural and commercial interest of “farri” has led to new research and to the release of improved varieties with better agronomical performances. Low cultivation costs and good market prices, especially for organic crops, guarantee a viable market even in recession phases. Their further and sustainable diffusion relies on offering the consumers a range of different food products that combine good technological quality with the outstanding nutritional value of hulled wheats
Comparison of some chemical and technological characteristics of different Triticum species
No full textWhole meal flours from different wheat species and subspecies (T. monococcum ssp. monococcum, T. turgidum ssp. Dicoccum, ssp. durum and Kamut®, and T. aestivum ssp. spelta and ssp. aestivum) were analysed for several chemical and technological traits, including protein, ash, carotenoids and tocols content as well as breadmaking potential and gelatinisation properties. A broad variation for most characteristics was observed both between and within species. T. monococcum confirmed its superior nutritional characteristics: on average, protein content reached 18.5% d.m, lutein 9.4 mg/kg d.m. and tocols (including α and β tocopherols and α and β tocotrienols) 84.5 mg/kg d.m., all values being significantly superior to the other Triticum species. T. monococcum also showed good gelatinisation behaviour and, in one case, breadmaking potential. Hulled wheat emmer and spelt, and Kamut had better nutritional values than durum and bread wheat, although in no way approaching the results obtained with T. monococcum
Chemical compounds distribution in wheat seeds and the effect of parboiling on chemical and technological properties of einkorn (Triticum monococum L.)
No full textA fractionate analysis of chemical compounds in kernels of einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. subsp. monococcum) and bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ssp. aestivum) accessions showed that the germ fraction had the highest concentration of protein, lutein, -tocopherol, -tocopherol and total tocols. Ash, -tocotrienol and -tocotrienol levels were highest in the bran fraction, although significant quantities were detected also in the germ and, for tocotrienols, in the endosperm. Notwithstanding the lower concentrations, the endosperm contributed most protein and lutein, as well as one-third of tocotrienols to the whole kernel; this suggests that, after the milling process, the white flour still retains most of the nutritional value of the whole kernel.
The influence of kernel parboiling on compounds distribution as well as on chemical and technological flour properties was assessed by steaming, under different time/temperature conditions, seeds of five einkorn accessions and one bread wheat control. Ash, protein, lutein, tocols and -amylase contents, SDS sedimentation volume and gelatinisation parameters were measured on the resulting flours. Furosine, a heat damage marker, was also assessed.
Most of the traits analysed were influenced by the parboilisation treatments. Lutein, tocols and -amylase diminished after steaming; SDS sedimentation volumes and most gelatinisation parameters also decreased, whereas gelatinisation temperatures and furosine contents increased. The changes were stronger under more drastic steaming conditions, although treatments x genotype influence was sometimes detected. Steaming induced migration of lutein and tocopherols from the bran and the germ fractions to the kernel endosperm
Macromolecular and rheological properties of Italian waxy wheat
No full textStarch retrogradation is the major cause of breadcrumb firming, and amylose is assumed to be mainly responsible for bread staling, making the food industry interested in using waxy (amylose-free) cereals and/or starches in bakery products. Waxy wheat lines have been produced in Japan and in other countries, but showed poor adaptability to the Italian agronomic conditions. A breeding program set up at CRA-SCV starting from partial-waxy cultivars identified in Italian bread wheat germplasm led to the release of about twenty waxy hexaploid wheat lines (WHW, Triticum aestivum L.). Aim of the present work is the study of the properties of these lines and of the role of the waxy trait in bread texture. Eighteen WHW were selected and characterized by chemical and physical small-scale analyses, and the pasting and rheological properties of flours were evaluated. Results were compared with those obtained from two commercial non-waxy cultivars, used as controls. Amylose content of WHW was typical of waxy lines (on average, 1.4%), with protein content ranging from 12.3% to 17.2%. In four WHW, the high protein content was associated to high gluten quality, evaluated by Gluten Index and SDS Sedimentation Volume. RVA test indicated a lower retrogradation tendency in WHW than in controls (setback values: 329 vs 931 cP). From a rheological standpoint, WHW showed high farinograph water absorption (70.3 ÷ 78.7%), but very low stability values. Baking tests indicate a good breadmaking quality of the Italian WHW, although starch-protein and protein-protein interactions in these systems deserve further investigation.
This study was supported by Italian MiPAAF (CERSUOM, DM 1942/7303/08)
EXPRESSION OF THE MAIZE B32 RIP PROTEIN IN WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) AND ITS IMPLICATIONS AS DEFENCE GENE AGAINST FUNGAL PATHOGENS
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Quantification of genetic relationships among A genomes of wheats
Full text linkThe genetic relationships of A genomes of Triticum urartu (Au) and Triticum monococcum (Am) in polyploid wheats are explored and quantified by AFLP fingerprinting. Forty-one accessions of A-genome diploid wheats, 3 of AG-genome wheats, 19 of AB-genome wheats, 15 of ABD-genome wheats, and 1 of the D-genome donor Ae. tauschii have been analysed. Based on 7 AFLP primer combinations, 423 bands were identified as potentially A genome specific. The bands were reduced to 239 by eliminating those present in autoradiograms of Ae. tauschii, bands interpreted as common to all wheat genomes. Neighbour-joining analysis separates T. urartu from T. monococcum. Triticum urartu has the closest relationship to polyploid wheats. Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum and T. turgidum subsp. durum lines are included in tightly linked clusters. The hexaploid spelts occupy positions in the phylogenetic tree intermediate between bread wheats and T. turgidum. The AG-genome accessions cluster in a position quite distant from both diploid and other polyploid wheats. The estimates of similarity between A genomes of diploid and polyploid wheats indicate that, compared with Am, Au has around 20% higher similarity to the genomes of polyploid wheats. Triticum timopheevii AG genome is molecularly equidistant from those of Au and Am wheats
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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