Content and relative composition of some phytochemicals in diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid Triticum species with potential nutraceutical properties Roberto Ciccoritti a, b , Katya Carbone a , Silvia Bellato a, b , Norberto Pogna a , Daniela Sgrulletta a, * a CRA-QCE, Research Unit for Cereal Quality, Via Cassia 176, 00191 Rome, Italy b Campus Bio-Medico Rome-University, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, Italy article info Article history: Received 29 March 2012 Received in revised form 11 July 2012 Accepted 13 July 2012 Keywords: Alkylresorcinols Antiradical capacity Total polyphenols Wheat abstract Seven cultivated Triticum species or subspecies (Triticum monococcum, Triticum turgidum ssp dicoccum, T. turgidum ssp. durum, T. turgidum ssp turanicum, Triticum timopheevii, Triticum aestivum and Triticum zhukovskyi) were compared for their contents of bioactive compounds, mainly 5-n-alkylresorcinols (ARs). Multivariate analysis of variance and principal component analysis were used to evaluate the differences in the phytochemical profiles and to establish the relationships among variables. Significant differences were observed for both total phenol (TP) and AR content. The highest AR level (377 mg/g) was observed in Triticum dicoccum, which also exhibited the highest variability for these compounds (298e436 mg/g). By contrast, the lowest AR content (286 mg/g) was found in Triticum durum. C21:0 was the main homologue chain in all the samples, its value ranging between 54.5% in T. durum and 41.2% in T. aestivum. The T. dicoccum and T. monococcum wheats had relatively low amounts of TP, whereas Triticum turanicum (215 mg/kg), T. timopheevii (250 mg/kg) and T. zhukovskyi (286 mg/kg) had approximately 3-fold higher TP levels. These results suggest that there are opportunities for breeding wheat varieties with superior health benefits and for promoting the use of ancient Triticum crops as novel sources of healthy food. Published by Elsevier Ltd. 1. Introduction Among cereals, wheat is the leading source of vegetable protein in human food, having a higher protein content than maize (corn) or rice, the other major cereal crops. Currently, wheat is second to rice as the main human food crop and ahead of maize, which is more extensively used for animal feed. Wheat is an important staple food because of its relatively high nutritional value and the technological properties of its milling products. Commercial wheat cultivars belong to hexaploid (Triticum aestivum) or tetraploid (Triticum turgidum ssp durum) species originated from natural hybridizations between diploid ancestors (Stallknecht et al., 1996). These varieties are the result of breeding programs performed during the last century to optimize their yield and technological properties for the industrial production of bread, pasta and many other products. On the other hand, the cultivation of ancient wheat crops such as Triticum monococcum and T. turgidum ssp dicoccum, has dramatically decreased. At present, these ancient wheat species are cultivated only in marginal rural areas in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Turkey and Balkan countries (Stallknecht et al., 1996), although it has been suggested that they have potential value for reducing the incidence of celiac disease associated with the intake of wheat-based food products (Molberg et al., 2005; Spaenij- Dekking et al., 2005). Cereal grains contain many health-promoting components including so-called “phytochemicals”, a term that refers to natu- rally occurring plant substances with biological activity (Zielinski and Kozlowska, 2000). Phenolic compounds, the most abundant and diverse phytochemicals, are ubiquitous secondary metabolites. They include a large group of biologically active components, from simple phenol molecules to polymeric structures with molecular masses above 30 kDa (Dreosti, 2000). The content of phenolic compounds is affected by several factors such as plant species, cultivar, organ, physiological stage and environment (soil, agronomy and climate) (Carbone et al., 2011; Scalbert and Williamson, 2000; Yu et al., 2004). Recently, phenols in foods have received increasing attention because of their antioxidant properties and their possible beneficial effects on human health, a consequence of their proven biological activity in prevention of cardiovascular diseases and cancer (Pearson et al., 1999). The polyphenols commonly present in the cereal grains include the 5-n-alkylresorcinols, alternative called alkylresorcinols (ARs) * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 063295705; fax: þ39 0636306022. E-mail address: daniela.sgrulletta@entecra.it (D. Sgrulletta). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Cereal Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcs 0733-5210/$ e see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2012.07.009 Journal of Cereal Science xxx (2012) 1e7 Please cite this article in press as: Ciccoritti, R., et al., Content and relative composition of some phytochemicals in diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid Triticum species with potential nutraceutical properties, Journal of Cereal Science (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2012.07.009