Agricultural management practices can produce changes in soil microbial populations whose functions are crucial to crop production and may be detectable using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial ...16S rRNA. To apply sequencing-derived bacterial community structure data to on-farm decision-making will require a better understanding of the complex associations between soil microbial community structure and soil function. Here 16S rRNA sequencing was used to profile soil bacterial communities following application of cover crops and organic fertilizer treatments in certified organic field cropping systems. Amendment treatments were hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), winter rye (Secale cereale), oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus), buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), beef manure, pelleted poultry manure, Sustane® 8-2-4, and a no-amendment control. Enzyme activities, net N mineralization, soil respiration, and soil physicochemical properties including nutrient levels, organic matter (OM) and pH were measured. Relationships between these functional and physicochemical parameters and soil bacterial community structure were assessed using multivariate methods including redundancy analysis, discriminant analysis, and Bayesian inference. Several cover crops and fertilizers affected soil functions including N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase and β-glucosidase activity. Effects, however, were not consistent across locations and sampling timepoints. Correlations were observed among functional parameters and relative abundances of individual bacterial families and phyla. Bayesian analysis inferred no directional relationships between functional activities, bacterial families, and physicochemical parameters. Soil functional profiles were more strongly predicted by location than by treatment, and differences were largely explained by soil physicochemical parameters. Composition of soil bacterial communities was predictive of soil functional profiles. Differences in soil function were better explained using both soil physicochemical test values and bacterial community structure data than using soil tests alone. Pursuing a better understanding of bacterial community composition and how it is affected by farming practices is a promising avenue for increasing our ability to predict the impact of management practices on important soil functions.
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The effect of thermal processing via autoclaving on modifications of total phenolics, antioxidant activity and functionality of wheat, buckwheat, corn and oats sprouts and seedlings were ...investigated. Functionality for type 2 diabetes related α-amylase, α-glucosidase inhibition and levo-dihydroxy phenylalanine (
l-DOPA) content, hypertension related angiotensin converting enzyme 1 (ACE) inhibition and ulcer related
Helicobacter pylori inhibition were evaluated using
in vitro assays. Thermal processing in general resulted in tissue browning leading to higher total phenolic content and free radical scavenging-linked antioxidant activity. It increased α-amylase inhibitory activity in buckwheat and oats but decreased in wheat and corn sprouts and seedlings. It increased α-glucosidase inhibitory activity in wheat, buckwheat and oats but decreased in corn sprouts. It reduced the cognitive function/diabetes related
l-DOPA content in all grains sprouts and seedlings tested. It increased ACE inhibitory activity in buckwheat and oats, but decreased in wheat and corn sprouts. It also improved the ulcer related
H. pylori inhibitory activity in all grain sprouts and seedlings studied. These changes in functionality are suggested to be due to modifications in the total phenolic content and profile by phenolic oxidation or polymerization caused by thermal processing. Therefore, diet designs for chronic disease management will have to consider thermal processing-linked modification of bioactive ingredient profiles.
Thermal processing altered the total phenolic content and antioxidant activity in winter wheat, buckwheat, corn and oats sprouts and seedlings. It modified the α-amylase inhibitory activity, α-glucosidase inhibitory activity,
l-DOPA content, ACE inhibitory activity and
H. pylori inhibitory activity of samples. Therefore, the food processing industry and diet design for chronic disease management will have to consider thermal processing-linked modification of bioactive ingredient profiles for more effective health benefits.
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Monech) contains several secondary metabolites like phenolic chemicals. Pectin has been demonstrated to be an efficient elicitor from the biotic group for triggering ...the defensive response, which enhances the production of secondary metabolites. In this study, the effect of pectin on the growth of buckwheat sprouts and the production of phenylpropanoid compounds in common buckwheat sprouts was investigated by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Pectin treatments of 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 mg/L were administered on buckwheat sprouts for ten days to assess the growth characteristics and optimum concentrations. In comparison to the control treatment, 2 mg/L pectin enhances the shoot length by 24%. But when pectin concentration continued to rise, a tendency toward shorter shoots was seen. Pectin treatment decreased the fresh weight of the sprout as compared to the control treatment. The phenylpropanoid accumulation in buckwheat sprouts varied depending on the amount of pectin utilized. Pectin treatment at 6 mg/L resulted in a 15.10% increase in total phenylpropanoid accumulation. The findings of this study indicate that pectin is a possible elicitor, however, more research on how pectin affects the buildup of phenylpropanoids in buckwheat sprouts would be more intriguing to examine the implications of this work.
Effects of part replacement (0, 15, 30, 45, 60 g/100 g) of rice flour by buckwheat flour (BF) on gel structure, cooking characteristics, nutritional compositions, and in vitro starch digestibility of ...extruded rice-buckwheat noodles were investigated. The visocity profile of blended flour showed that peak viscosity and setback value significantly increased with increasing substitution levels of BF. Scanning electron microscope images indicated that 30 g/100 g BF replacement induced the formation of more integrated starch gel network. The cooking loss and broken rate of extruded noodles first decreased and then increased with the incorporation of BF. The lowest cooking loss and broken rate were observed at 30 g/100 g BF replacement. BF substitution increased the content of polyphenols and flavonoids in extruded noodles and higher retention rate of polyphenols and flavonoids was found after extrusion cooking when substitution level of BF was at 30 g/100 g. Finally, the predicted glycemic index (pGI), and the amount of rapidly digested starch both decreased, while the amount of resistant starch increased with increasing BF proportions, indicating BF is a suitable ingredient to make low GI products.
•BF enrichment greatly affected gel microstructure and quality of rice noodles.•A more integrated starch gel network was obtained at 30 g/100 g BF replacement.•The lowest cooking loss and broken rate were observed at 30 g/100 g BF replacement.•The highest retention rate of TFC and TPC was observed at 30 g/100 g BF level.•BF addition increased content of dietary fiber and decreased pGI values of noodles.
•Some buckwheat samples had relatively high radioactive Cs in eastern Japan in 2012.•K application effectively decreased the radioactive Cs in buckwheat.•Radioactive Cs in buckwheat decreased after ...the recommendation of K application in 2013.
Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant released radioactive cesium (Cs) into the environment after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. After radioactive Cs fell onto agricultural fields, radioactive nuclide levels in some buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) grain subsequently exceeded new standard limits for radioactive materials, including that for radioactive Cs (100Bqkg−1) established by the Japanese government in 2012. A survey of soils and buckwheat grain from 68 farmers’ fields in 2012 revealed that soil exchangeable potassium (K) concentration was significantly and negatively correlated with radioactive Cs concentration in the grain. The effect of K application on the reduction of radioactive Cs concentration in the grain was confirmed by pot and field experiments conducted respectively in 2012 and 2013. This effect might result from the similarity of ion forms of K and Cs and/or the lower exchangeable Cs concentrations at higher exchangeable K concentrations in soil. Based on these results, farmers were recommended to establish a soil exchangeable K concentration of 250mgkg−1 (300mgkg−1 in K2O) before applying basal fertilizer. After this recommendation, the soil K concentrations of farmers’ fields increased, causing an overall decrease in radioactive Cs concentrations of buckwheat grain produced in 2013. Consequently, no grain sample from this year exceeded the standard limits for radioactive Cs level across the affected area in Japan. These efforts contributed greatly to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of agriculture in the area contaminated with radioactive Cs.
•Diversity in fiber composition of amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa was recorded.•Fiber polysaccharides of pseudocereals are rich in pectins and xyloglucans.•Fiber polysaccharides have various claimed ...biological functions and health effects.•Fiber polysaccharides and fractions have formulated in food products such as breads.•Effects of polysaccharides and fractions also relate to impurities such as phenolics.
Seeds of amaranth (Amaranthus spp.), buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum and F. tataricum) and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) become popular foods due to their attractive health effects. Cell wall polysaccharides are the major components of dietary fiber and significantly contribute to diverse health effects of the grains. This review summarizes chemical and physical structure, biological functions and food uses of the cell wall polysaccharides and fractions as fiber components from the 3 pseudocereals. The properties and uses of the polysaccharides and fractions are compared with those of fiber polysaccharides from common sources such as fruits and vegetables. Overall, the fiber polysaccharide composition of the pseudocereals is more similar to that of fruits and vegetables than to that of cereals. The fiber polysaccharides showed a range of biological functions such as antioxidation, anticancer and immunomodulation. The fiber polysaccharides of amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa have potential to be used in formulations of functional foods.
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), belonging to the Polygonaceae family, is one of the most important "functional food" crops in China. In fall 2020, buckwheat plants grown in field exhibiting stem ...canker symptoms were found in Tongxin county, Ningxia province, China. Symptoms included stem canker, dieback and extensive vascular discoloration. Cankers were bleached, silvery-white to dark gray, slightly sunken, oval to linear with slightly tapered tips, pycnidia formation was also observed within the cankers. Disease incidence was approximately 30% and moderate to high severity across the field. Symptomatic tissues were cut into 1-2 cm pieces, surface sterilized (75% ethanol for 30 s and 0.1% NaClO for 2 min) and washed four times with sterile distilled water, dried in sterile filter paper for 3 times, and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 25 ℃. Fluffy mycelium was visible for all isolates after 48 h of incubation. Twenty-five single isolates were hyphal-tip purified on PDA. Six representative isolates were used for further study. The fungal colonies on PDA were flat with an entire margin, gray aerial hyphae, light brown pigmentation, appressed slimy mycelium within which numerous brown-black perithecia formed. Colonies on oatmeal agar (OA) were flat, with flocculent mycelium, conidiomata and conidia and the reverse side was black to smoke-grey. Sparse brown-black perithecia were observed within the mycelium. Conidia were hyaline, one-celled, smooth-walled, rarely finely verruculose, aseptate, slightly curved, both sides gradually tapering towards the round to slightly acute apex and truncate base, measured (15.7-23.7) µm (length) × (2.8-5.7) µm (width), (avg. 20.2 µm×4.2 µm, n=100). Genomic DNA was extracted from the same six isolates, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and the genes encoding beta-tubulin (TUB), chitin synthase (CHS), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and histone H3 (HIS3) were independently amplified with primers V9G/ITS4, T1/Bt-2b, CHS-354R/CHS-79F, GDF1/GDR1 and CYLH3F/CYLH3R, respectively (Damm et al., 2019). Sequences for all six isolates were identical. The sequences of the representative isolate 9J1 were deposited in GenBank (accession nos. MW819604, MW836580, MW836577, MW836578 and MW836579). The results of BLASTn showed that the ITS, TUB, CHS, GAPDH and HIS3 sequences of 9J1 were greater than 98% (555/557bp, 477/486bp, 258/259bp, 242/248bp and 339/345bp, respectively) identical to those of Colletotrichum liriopes (GenBank: MT645674 (ITS), GU228098 (TUB), MT663546 (CHS), MH291255 (GAPDH) and MH292811 (HIS3)). MrBayes phylogenetic analysis using concatenated sequences of ITS, TUB, CHS, GAPDH and HIS3 showed that the isolate clustered monophyletically with strains of C. liriopes. Based on morphological and molecular characteristics, the isolate was identified as C. liriopes. To fulfill Koch's postulates, spores of the isolate 9J1 grown on OA for 14 days were harvested in 0.01% Tween 20, and the suspension were adjusted to 104 spores/ml. Six one-month-old potted plants of buckwheat were inoculated by spraying the spore suspension until run-off. Plants were kept inside a plastic bag for 3 d to maintain high relative humidity and maintained in the greenhouse. Six control plants were sprayed with sterile deionized water and kept under the same conditions. Two weeks after inoculation, all inoculated plants showed stem canker symptoms as described above, whereas control plants remained healthy. The pathogen was successfully reisolated from leaf and stem symptomatic tissue, and identified as C. liriopes based on morphological features and DNA sequence analysis, thereby fulfilling Koch's postulates. C. liriopes has been reported causing anthracnose on Eria coronaria (Yang et al., 2011), Liriope spicata (Chen et al., 2019) in China, Liriope muscari in Mexico (Damm et al., 2009), Rohdea japonica in Korea (Kwon and Kim, 2013) and in the United States (Trigiano et al., 2018). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. liriopes causing anthracnose on buckwheat worldwide. Occurrence of this disease may represent a significant impact for buckwheat production because this crop is the major agricultural commodity in some parts of China. More studies are needed to understand the epidemiology of this disease and foster disease management programs in China.
Aluminum toxicity (Al) is one of the main constraints for plant growth on acid soils. While most plants are sensitive to Al, some species have developed strategies to cope with this metal. Fagopyrum ...esculentum, Moench., var Mancan (Polygonaceae), despite being an aluminum-tolerant plant, shows root inhibition as a seedling during the first hours of exposure to Al, whereas at later times, it fully recovers. In this study, we assessed whether abscisic acid (ABA) levels and the antioxidant system might be involved in the early tolerance mechanisms of F. esculentum. The results showed that seedlings exposed to 50 μM Al for 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h showed decreases in the relative root growth (RRG), and there was an accumulation of Al in the root apex from 3 to 24 h. In addition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels increased, and were detected early after Al exposure; endogenous ABA levels increased and antioxidant enzyme activity increased, including catalase (CAT, EC1.11.1.6), glutathione reductase (GR, EC 1.6.4.2), ascorbate peroxidase (APX, EC 1.11.1.11), and superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1) activity. Seedlings treated with exogenous ABA also showed increased ROS levels and CAT and APX activity. The results suggest that after the first 12 h of Al treatment, root growth declines while ROS levels increase due to the entrance of Al into the root. However, the enzyme antioxidant system is promoted, which may impact the recovery of the root growth at later times and increasing levels of ABA might mediate this effect.
•Fagopyrum esculentum seedlings showed root growth inhibition and Al root accumulation during the first 12 h of Al exposure.•Once Al entered the cells, ROS formation was induced in a manner similar to when roots are treated with exogenous ABA.•Antioxidant enzyme activity increased in response to ROS formation at the root tips.•Endogenous ABA levels increased in response to Al and might be involved in promoting the antioxidant system.•The results suggest that ABA might play a role in regulating ROS homeostasis during Al toxicity.
There is increasing interest in utilization of buckwheat for healthy food applications. Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) are cultivated in Asia, ...Europe, and Americas for various food formulation and production. Starch, the major component of the seeds, may account over 70% of the dry weight. Therefore, it is expected that, to a large extent, the quality of starch determines the quality of buckwheat food products. Furthermore, Buckwheat starch has great potential for various food and non-food uses due to the unique structural and functional features.
This review summarises the current knowledge of chemical composition, chemical structure of amylose and amylopectin, physical structure of granules, physicochemical properties, enzyme susceptibility, modifications, and uses of buckwheat starch. Suggestions on how to better understand and utilise the starch are provided.
Amylose contents of buckwheat starch ranged from 20 to 28%. Starch granules are most polygonal with size ranging from ∼2 to 15 μm and an average diameter of ∼6–7 μm. The polymorph is A-type. The amount of extra-long unit chains of amylopectin (DP > 100) is higher than that of cereal amylopectins. Low glycaemic index of buckwheat food products could be attributed to the non-starch components. Buckwheat starch has been used as fat replacer, ingredient for extruded products, nanocomposite material, and fermentation substrate for alcoholic beverage. It may be concluded that buckwheat starch can be a unique source of specialty starch for innovative food and non-food applications.
•Diverse aspects of buckwheat starch is comprehensively reviewed.•Starch structure-property relationships are explored.•How buckwheat starch can be better utilised is suggested.
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•Buckwheat albumin and globulin were mainly cross-linked with wheat glutenin.•Buckwheat albumin facilitated wheat α-gliadin to cross-link with wheat glutenin.•Buckwheat globulin ...prevented part of wheat gliadin from linking to glutenin.•Disulfide bonds promoted cross-linking between wheat and buckwheat proteins.
This study investigated the heat-induced interactions between wheat and buckwheat proteins by heating wheat proteins, buckwheat albumin, globulin, and mixtures of wheat flour with buckwheat albumin/globulin at 50, 65, 80, 95, and 100 °C. The results showed that the cross-linking reactions of wheat glutenin with buckwheat albumin and globulin initiated at 80 and 95 °C, respectively. Buckwheat albumin decreased the extractability of α-gliadin by 35 % at 95 °C and 5.9 % at 100 °C. The linkage of buckwheat globulin to wheat glutelin prevented part of the wheat gliadin from linking to glutelin, resulting in the extractability of α- and γ-gliadin increased by 8.6 % and 11 % at 95 °C, respectively. The chemical forces results indicated that interactions between wheat and buckwheat proteins were primarily driven by disulfide bonds and hydrophobic interactions. This study provides a theoretical basis for better regulating the wheat-buckwheat protein network to improve the quality of buckwheat-enriched products.
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