Traceability of Sicilian Durum Wheat Landraces and Historical Varieties by High Molecular Weight Glutenins Footprint

Giovanna Visioli,Caterina Agrimonti,Alfio Spina,Gabriella Pasini,Gianluigi Giannelli

doi:10.3390/agronomy11010143

Abstract

Over the last new decade, there has been a strong interest in landraces and historical wheat varieties from farmers, manufacturers and consumers. They are agronomically and nutritionally interesting but the supply chain (from seed to end-product) is not solid and traceable. High molecular weight glutenins (HMW-GS) can act as markers to trace the varietal correspondence and to verify the genetic purity of the grain and consequently of the flours, marketed and labeled as mono-varietal. In the present work, HMW-GS of different durum wheat Sicilian landraces (Timilia, Russello, Perciasacchi) and one historical variety Margherito were analyzed. At first, specific protein profiles were assigned to each Sicilian landrace by SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF/MS analyses, thanks to the availability of pure seeds. Analysis of the protein profiles were then carried out from random samples of seed batches of the same landraces grown on a farm in South-East Sicily. The results highlighted the presence of different protein bands within the individual seed batches, which are reflected in complex profiles in the corresponding commercial flours labelled as mono-varietal. The bread wheat landrace Maiorca cultivated in the same farm was also found as a contaminant at different percentages in the durum wheat batches. The results of this study offer opportunities to improve the supply chain of the different Sicilian landraces or historical varieties cultivated, underlining the need for accurate controls from the field to the transformation process to be labelled as mono-varietal products.

Highlights

Genetic improvement programs of durum wheat, launched in Italy in the early 1900s, have had a significant impact on productivity and technological grain quality as a result of the needs of the processing industry and consumers’ demands [1,2]
Specific protein profiles were assigned to each Sicilian landrace by SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF/mass spectrometry (MS) analyses, thanks to the availability of pure seeds
The results of this study offer opportunities to improve the supply chain of the different Sicilian landraces or historical varieties cultivated, underlining the need for accurate controls from the field to the transformation process to be labelled as mono-varietal products

Summary

Introduction

Genetic improvement programs of durum wheat, launched in Italy in the early 1900s, have had a significant impact on productivity and technological grain quality as a result of the needs of the processing industry and consumers’ demands [1,2]. Over the last new decade, there has been a strong interest in landraces and historical wheat varieties from farmers, manufacturers and consumers [3,4,5]. Durum wheat landraces have a higher content of phenols, known for their healthy properties, than modern varieties [4,8], as well as a higher concentration of minerals [9]. From a technological point of view, some old wheat varieties are well suitable to pasta production, such as Cappelli [10], and for bread-making, such as Andriolo [11]

Objectives

Methods

Results