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Teff is the only cultivated cereal crop from the genus Eragrostis and it is the major staple food of Ethiopians. In Ethiopia, the quality of teff and its market price are primarily determined by its grain color. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of soil physicochemical characteristics across multiple locations in the two main teff growing regions of Amhara and Oromia states in Ethiopia on teff grain color and nutritional quality of a single variety. Grain and soil samples were collected from 24 field sites cultivated with the popular teff variety ‘Quncho’ (DZ-Cr-387/RIL-355). The teff grain samples collected from the 24 locations were evaluated for grain color, proximate composition, amino acid composition, and grain mineral concentration and the soil samples were analyzed for their physicochemical properties. Sample location means were considered different p < 0.05. Teff grain color indices of hue (H), saturation (S), and brightness (V), grain proximate composition, amino acid composition, and mineral concentration differed among locations (p < 0.05). There were significant negative correlations between grain S color value and soil pH, SOC, Ca, Mg, S, and Na. Soils with greater pH, SOC, Ca, Mg, and S generally had lower S values and thus, whiter color teff grains. There were considerable variations in the measured parameters for soil and teff grain physicochemical properties. The results indicated an opportunity for management interventions necessary to obtain uniformity in grain color and chemical composition for the same variety of teff grown in the two major regions in Ethiopia.

Grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a gluten-free cereal grown around the world and is a food staple in semi-arid and subtropical regions. Sorghum is a diverse crop with a range of pericarp colour including white, various shades of red, and black, all of which show health-promoting properties as they are rich sources of antioxidants such as polyphenols, carotenoids, as well as micro- and macro-nutrients. This work examined the grain composition of three sorghum varieties possessing a range of pericarp colours (white, red, and black) grown in the Mediterranean region. To determine the nutritional quality independent of the contributions of phenolics, mineral and fatty acid content and composition were measured. Minor differences in both protein and carbohydrate were observed among varieties, and a higher fibre content was found in both the red and black varieties. A higher amount of total saturated fats was found in the white variety, while the black variety had a lower amount of total unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats than either the white or red varieties. Oleic, linoleic, and palmitic were the primary fatty acids in all three analysed sorghum varieties. Significant differences in mineral content were found among the samples with a greater amount of Mg, K, Al, Mn, Fe, Ni, Zn, Pb and U in both red and black than the white sorghum variety. The results show that sorghum whole grain flour made from grain with varying pericarp colours contains unique nutritional properties.

The current study assessed the effectiveness of five conventional and three hermetic storage facilities for extended storage of wheat grains under ambient storage conditions during two storage seasons (2023 and 2024). The findings indicated that hermetic storage facilities outperformed conventional ones throughout the six-month storage period. For instance, GrainPro PHB exhibited the minimal increase in grain moisture contents (0.50 and 0.33%), resulting in the least grain damage (2.38 and 2.44%) and weight loss (0.93 and 0.93%) during both years, respectively. Additionally, GrainPro PHB recorded the highest seed germination (90.50 and 90.33%) for both years. Compared to conventional storage methods, GrainPro PHB exhibited a lower number of storage insects. The proximate composition analysis revealed significant nutritional differences between polypropylene bags and GrainPro PHB. GrainPro PHB successfully maintained proximate composition, with minimal decreases in protein (1.03 and 0.71%), fat (16.88 and 14.95%), and starch content (0.8 and 0.5%) and minimal increases in ash (25.00 and 23.33%) and fiber contents (18.33 and 16.80%) in both years. Moreover, results revealed a positive correlation between grain moisture contents and damage parameters, suggesting that the higher moisture contents may aggravate the percent grain damage and weight loss. There were also better rheological properties in flour made from grains stored in GrainPro PHB, like a lower minimum water absorption capacity (WAC), a longer dough development time (DDT), and a maximum dough stability time (DST). Furthermore, texture profile analysis (TPA) of bread made from flour of grains stored in GrainPro PHB showed improved texture, with higher chewiness, cohesiveness, springiness, and resilience, and lower hardness, resulting in superior overall quality compared to bread made from conventionally stored grains. Eventually, these findings underscore the effectiveness of hermetic storage facilities in maintaining grain moisture contents, reducing losses, preserving seed quality, and enhancing food and nutrition security.

The cereal grains such as wheat, barley, sorghum, millets were evaluated before and after germination (24 h, 48 h and 72 h) and compared for their proximate composition, antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, pasting properties, in vitro starch digestibility and FTIR spectroscopy. Germination inversely affected the protein, fat, and ash content of different cereal grains. The germinated flours have less water content and higher oil absorption capacities along with reduced starch content. The contents of rapidly digestible starch (RDS), slowly digestible starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS) in the ungerminated cereal flours ranged from 20.7 to 32.1%, 26.9 to 38.0% and 6.2 to 17.6% respectively but after germination of 72 h, the RDS content increased from 26.5 to 36.2% while SDS and RS content decreased from 26.1% (sorghum) to 16% (barley) and 14.7% (barley) to 4.6% (wheat) respectively. The drought–tolerant crops (sorghum, millets and barley) are potential sources of antioxidants and phenolic content and yielded lower hydrolysis index and estimated glycaemic index upon germination. The highest section of antiparallal β-sheet, α-helix and β-turns were found in wheat flour followed by sorghum flour and their proportion decreased with continuous germination. The continuous reduction of viscosity was evaluated with the progress in germination. Overall, germination is a way to get health-promoting compounds from less utilizing cereal such as millets, sorghum and barley and enhance their uses to nourish the huge population with the aim to fulfill their nutritional requirements.

Nowadays, whole grain and less refined flours deriving from higher extraction rate milling processes have received much attention due to the presence of the external parts of the grain constituting the bran, with well-known health benefits. The use of these flours can represent a rational option for the valorization of native bran with minimal by-product generation while improving the nutritional and functional profile of the end products. This work aims to evaluate the techno-functional characteristics of commercial soft wheat flours with different refining degrees (proximate composition, functional, rheological, and starch-related properties) and their relation to the produced fresh-pasta quality (cooking behavior, mechanical and optical properties, and sensory assessment). Specifically, water holding capacity, fat absorption capacity, and swelling ability of flours gradually decreased with the refining degree (up to 25%, 16%, and 36%, respectively). Regarding the starch properties, the overall gelatinization process resulted to be negatively influenced by higher extraction rates, leading to a lower consistency of the whole grain starch gels (~17% in the maximum force during heating and ~12.39% peak viscosity). Cooked pasta was darker and redder when increasing the extraction rate. In addition, whole grain-based pasta had 42% higher cooking loss, and it was 86% harder and 101% firmer, leading to the production of a less elastic fresh-pasta with lower swelling ability. However, a good quality end product with naturally high nutritional value can be produced with flours with low refining degree. Results are useful to assess the best productive destination of flours basing on their technological properties.

Nowadays, the pandemic situation has encouraged the idea of sustainable healthy foods leading to new trends in food consumption. Brewers spent grain (BSG) represents a potential functional food rich in fiber, protein, lipids, mineral and phenols that needs to be further exploited. In this vein, five different BSG types were collected from local breweries and valorized in cookies manufacturing. Thus, proximate composition (protein, minerals, lipids, ash, crude fiber and carbohydrates) was analyzed using AACC (American Association of Cereal Chemists) methods, DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), and Folin Ciocalteu methods were used to determined antioxidant activity and total phenols, while minerals and aroma volatile compounds were performed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and ITEX/GC-MS (in tube extraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) respectively. Color and physical characteristics, together with sensorial analysis, were also evaluated. The results highlighted a significant difference between BSG samples, mainly from the total phenols, antioxidant activity and aroma volatile compounds point of view. BSG volatiles compounds from the aldehydes group such as 2-methyl-propanal, 3-methyl-butanal and 2-methyl-butanal were identified also in the final baked goods, leading to a pleasant and appreciated consumers’ taste and aroma. Furthermore, cookies sensorial analysis emphasized that the sample manufactured with BSG from light and dark malt mixture was more appreciated by consumers, attaining the highest hedonic scores.

Quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a climate‐resilient crop with high nutritional quality and functional properties, offering a promising supplement to wheat flour in breadmaking. This study evaluated the effects of incorporating raw and short‐time germinated quinoa flour (25% w/w) on dough rheology, bread volume, and nutritional composition. Two quinoa cultivars were used: a Canadian (Quebec) cultivar and Bolivian Royal White. Dough mixing properties were determined using Farinograph‐E, and proximate composition, total phenolic content (TPC), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were analyzed. Compared with the wheat control, quinoa addition increased lipid content from 6.60 g 100 g −1 dw in control to 7.42–8.18 g 100 g −1 dw and ash content from 2.05 g 100 g −1 dw in control to 2.23–2.7 g 100 g −1 dw ( p < 0.05), while protein content remained unchanged. Short‐term germination (7–18 h) tripled quinoa’s TPC, but baking reduced this effect. The addition of quinoa flour, whether raw or germinated, decreased dough stability from 17.9 min (control) to 8.6–13.9 min. Bread specific volume tended to be lower in quinoa‐supplemented samples (4.75 cm 3 g −1 vs. 4.02–4.39 cm 3 /g), but results were not significantly different ( p = 0.0604). Substituting 25% (w/w) of wheat flour with raw or short‐term germinated quinoa flour improves bread’s nutritional profile while maintaining its techno‐functional integrity, reinforcing its potential in functional bakery formulations.

Amaranth seeds, although a valuable food in Mexico, contain anti-nutritional compounds that can affect food quality. As a part of this work, the proximate composition, fatty acid profile, protein digestibility, and the effect of germination and popping of Amaranthus hypochondriacus seeds was analyzed with the aim of eliminating anti-nutritional compounds. Untreated seeds comprised of 11.35–18.8% protein and 0.27–13.39% lipids, including omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids such as oleic, linoleic, linolenic, and arachidonic acid. The main minerals detected were Ca+2, K+1, and Mg+2. Nevertheless in vitro studies indicate that germination significantly improved digestibility, whereby treatments aimed at reducing anti-nutritional compounds decreased lectin concentration, while significantly increasing tannins and completely eliminating trypsins and saponins.

This study was carried out to evaluate some legume seeds growing in Nepal for their proximate composition, quantification of total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoid (TFC) contents, and in vitro, antioxidant and antidiabetic activities. These included legume grains such as chickpeas (Cicer arietinum), pea (Pisum sativum), mung bean (Vigna mungo), lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), broad bean (Vicia faba), lentil (Lens culinaris), soybean (Glycine max), and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). The legume seeds were ground to make the flour which was extracted with methanol. The phenolic and flavonoid content was estimated by Folin-Ciocalteu’s phenol and aluminum chloride colorimetric methods. The in vitro antioxidant and antidiabetic activity was evaluated by using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging and α-amylase enzyme inhibition assay. The different legumes showed considerable variations in their phenolic contents (30.64±1.50 mg·GAE/g to 46.65±1.25 mg·GAE/g legume seeds). Similarly, the total flavonoid contents showed 135.5±10.88 mg·QE/g to 191.7±8.73 mg·QE/g legume seeds. The in vitro antioxidant activity was evaluated in IC50 which ranged from 31.60±0.06 μg/mL to 69.74±0.89 μg/mL. The α-amylase inhibition was evaluated in IC50 which ranged from 217.38 μg/mL to 425.75 μg/mL as compared to the standard acarbose of 52.76 μg/mL. This study suggested that legumes are good sources of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats mainly for vegetarian people. The selection of the right legume species could be a good source of natural antioxidants and antidiabetics for nutraceutical uses and the beneficial effects of legumes from human health perspectives. Legume seeds growing in Nepal could be used as a sustainable and cheap meat alternative and are considered the most important food source.

Quinoa is known for its high nutritional value and adaptability; however, there is a lack of data about the chemical composition of quinoa produced in Ecuador, especially the Chimborazo ecotype. Our research aims to evaluate the nutritional components of Chimborazo quinoa. This knowledge (chemical composition) can help to improve cultivation and farmers’ understanding. Samples were collected from 49 plots at four altitude ranges (3000–3200; 3201–3300; 3301–3400; 3401–3533) m.a.s.l. Each sample of 2 kg quinoa was cleaned, dried (32 °C/15 h), and stored at −20 °C before analyzing water activity, proximate composition, mineral content, antioxidant activity, and functional compounds. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and mean comparison, Pearson correlation, and principal component analysis. The Chimborazo ecotype shows protein content comparable to or exceeding other global quinoa cultivars. Statistical analysis revealed that altitude had a minimal influence on quinoa’s chemical composition, resulting in overlapping altitude-based clusters. Complex relationships between quinoa variables were identified, which varied with altitude. These findings suggest that cultivation of high-quality quinoa across a range of altitudes is feasible without compromising its intrinsic quality. Moreover, the extensive and diverse results from our study provide a solid foundation for further plant breeding and the development of specialized quinoa varieties.