Abstract
Grain amaranth is known as an alternative crop with exclusive nutritional value and health benefits. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of gamma irradiation on quantitative and qualitative amaranth seed traits, including 1000-seed weight, amino acids, fatty acids content, oil, and squalene yield. Two Slovak mutant varieties “Pribina” (A. cruentus) and “Zobor” (A. hypochondriacus x A. hybridus) were evaluated and compared to nonirradiated controls Ficha (A. cruentus L.) and K-433 (A. hypochondriacus x A. hybridus) and commercial varieties, Aztec (A. cruentus L.), Plainsman and Koniz (A. hypochondriacus x A. hybridus). Mutant varieties, “Pribina” and “Zobor”, showed superior 1000-seed weight performance compared to all investigated amaranth samples. The change in quantitative seed trait was accompanied by significantly higher oil and squalene content compared to commercial varieties. Moreover, significantly higher content of essential linoleic acid was detected in mutant variety “Zobor”. The present findings suggest that seeds of irradiation-derived varieties have high nutritional potential and can be used as a supplementary crop in the human diet.
Highlights
Amaranth is a multipurpose crop that can be used as food and animal feed, as well as an ornamental plant [1]
Amaranth grain has higher nutritional value compared to traditional cereals and several legumes with high protein and well-balanced essential amino acid level, especially lysine and methionine [2,3,4]
We evaluated 1000-seed weight as an important yield parameter and determined the content of important seed nutritional properties, such as amino acids, total oil, fatty acids, and squalene
Summary
Amaranth is a multipurpose crop that can be used as food and animal feed, as well as an ornamental plant [1]. Amaranth grain has higher nutritional value compared to traditional cereals and several legumes with high protein and well-balanced essential amino acid level, especially lysine and methionine [2,3,4]. The main aspect of protein value in amaranth grain is its essential amino acid composition (EAA). Amino acid and protein quantity in amaranth depends on the genotype and year of production [3,6]. Lysine and valine are the limiting amino acids in most cereals [7]. Bressani et al [8] reported threonine as the limiting amino acid in amaranth grain. Others [9,10] reported that leucine was the limiting amino acid followed by valine and threonine. Despite low content of leucine, isoleucine, and valine in Plants 2020, 9, 1412; doi:10.3390/plants9111412 www.mdpi.com/journal/plants
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