Influence of variety on nutritional values of Triticum turgidum ssp. durum

Abstract

For many years the needs of consumers, farmers and the seed industry have changed significantly. To meet these expectations, investments in research on durum wheat varieties are needed. In this context, five modern varieties of durum wheat (Karim, Razzek, Nasr, Khiar and Om Rabiaa), obtained through a selection program, harvested in northern Tunisia, have been investigated, deepening their technological and nutritional characteristics. The results obtained were evaluated using chemometric tools to visualize the interaction of these results with their calorific values. All wheat samples examined are characterized by low average grain glassiness values (0.67–10.65%), fatty acidity (≈0.05%) and moisture (≈10%), and high average values of thousandths weight (45.04–53.58 g), weight (≈84 kg h L−1) and monounsaturated fatty acids (20.34–25.62%). They also have appreciable quantities of gluten (from 26.49 to 42.22% of dry matter) and total protein (from 12.64 to 15.17% of dry matter) with an energy value of about 340 Kcal/100 g. According to UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS analysis, dihydroferulic acid was shown to be the most abundant phenolic compound detected in all varieties, constituting approximately 30–40% of the phenolic compounds. The wheat variety strongly affects almost all technological and chemical parameters. Chemometric tools have allowed us to highlight the differences in the different varieties of wheat. In particular, the linear projections of the nutritional and technological characteristics of durum wheat were differentiated according to their calorific value, whereas the use of a heatmap was useful to create a hierarchical cluster of the wheat features.