Evaluation of a Set of Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum Accessions for β-Glucans and Microelement Contents

Fadwa Elouadi,Ghizlanne Salih,Zakaria Kehel,Abderrazek Jilal,Mohammed Ibriz,Ahmed Amri,Adil El-Baouchi,Benjamin Kilian

doi:10.3390/agriculture11100950

Abstract

Barley is one of the oldest domesticated crops in the world and is mainly used for feed and malt and to a lesser extent as food. The use of barley as food is a tradition in communities in some countries of North Africa, Europe, and Asia. However, due to the health-promoting properties of barley grain, there is an increasing interest in such use. The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) has a global mandate for barley improvement and holds rich in-trust collections of cultivated and wild Hordeum species. The present study aims to evaluate 117 accessions of Hordeum spontaneum for their contents of β-glucan and microelements for breeding new varieties with enhanced nutritional value. The bulked seed accessions of Hordeum spontaneum were grown over two seasons, and the single plant derived seeds from these accessions were compared to 36 elite lines and varieties of cultivated barley in the second season in Morocco. The results showed large differences in β-glucan and microelements in both the bulk and the single plant seed accessions. The contents of β-glucans ranged from 1.44 to 11.3% in the Hordeum spontaneum accessions and from 1.62 to 7.81% in the cultivated barley lines. Large variations were found for the microelements content, but no differences were noticed between the wild and the cultivated species. However, some accessions of Hordeum spontaneum had higher combined contents of Iron, Zinc, and Selenium. Such accessions are used in interspecific crosses to develop biofortified barley germplasm and varieties.

Highlights

Biofortification of major staple crops is increasingly stressed as a mean to overcome the prevailing hunger and malnutrition, mainly in developing countries
The first biofortified varieties were developed in case of rice, wheat, cassava, maize, beans, and sweet potatoes, and pre-breeding efforts are recently undertaken for many other crops including lentil and barley (CGIAR 2018)
This study aimed to evaluate of a set of Hordeum spontaneum accessions for β-glucans contents and mineral content together with cultivars and elite lines of barley to use them as parents for breeding bio-fortified barley cultivars

Summary

Introduction

Biofortification of major staple crops is increasingly stressed as a mean to overcome the prevailing hunger and malnutrition, mainly in developing countries. Genetic biofortification is a more sustainable approach to alleviate hidden hunger. Several initiatives including the Biofortification Challenge Program and Harvest Plus (https://www.harvestplus.org/ accessed on 23 September 2021) were supporting CGIAR centers to develop varieties with enhanced contents of micronutrients. Both traditional breeding and transgenic approaches are used in improving the micronutrient contents. The first biofortified varieties were developed in case of rice, wheat, cassava, maize, beans, and sweet potatoes, and pre-breeding efforts are recently undertaken for many other crops including lentil and barley (CGIAR 2018)

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