Rapid Determination of Total Dietary Fiber and Minerals in Coix Seed by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Technology Based on Variable Selection Methods

Adlay, an ancient functional plant with nutritional quality, improves human health

Adlay (Coix lacryma-jobi L.), a crop closed related to maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), originated in tropical/subtropical regions of Asia and Africa; southwest China primary center of this plant's origin, evolution and migration. Adlay is a traditional high-value minor crop used for both medicinal and dietary purposes. Adlay has anti-tumor, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, blood sugar-lowering, and blood lipid-lowering effects. To clarify the main bioactive components and phytochemical compounds and to fully explore their utility, this review summarizes the research done on the main functional ingredients of adlay, including amino acids and proteins, oils, vitamins and minerals, polysaccharides, and polyphenols. This study also highlighted the application of genome sequencing to tailor nutrient-rich adlay cultivars and nutraceutical product development. Additionally, the acquisition of high-density genomic data combined with next-generation phenotypic analysis will undoubtedly improve our understanding of the potential genetic regulation of adlay nutraceutical traits. This review provides new insights and ideas for the research of adlay in comparison and evolutionary genomics, and a useful reference for molecular breeding and genetic improvement of this important minor crop.

Quantitative assessment of wheat quality using near-infrared spectroscopy: A comprehensive review

Wheat is one of the most widely cultivated crops throughout the world. A great need exists for wheat quality assessment for breeding, processing, and products production purposes. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a rapid, low-cost, simple, and nondestructive assessment method. Many advanced studies associated with NIRS for wheat quality assessment have been published recently, either introducing new chemometrics or attempting new assessment parameters to improve model robustness and accuracy. This review provides a comprehensive overview of NIRS methodology including its principle, spectra pretreatments, spectral wavelength selection, outlier disposal, dataset division, regression methods, and model evaluation. More importantly, the applications of NIRS in the determination of analytical parameters, rheological parameters, and end product quality of wheat are summarized. Although NIRS showed great potential in the quantitative determination of analytical parameters, there are still challenges in model robustness and accuracy in determining rheological parameters and end product quality for wheat products. Future model development needs to incorporate larger databases, integrate different spectroscopic techniques, and introduce cutting-edge chemometrics methods. In addition, calibration based on external factors should be considered to improve the predicted results of the model. The NIRS application in micronutrients needs to be extended. Last, the idea of combining standard product sensory attributes and spectra for model development deserves further study.

Changes of the phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities in germinated adlay seeds

BACKGROUND

Over the years, germinated adlay products have been used as both food source and folk medicine. This study investigated the changes of total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), antioxidant activities, and phenolic acid profiles of adlay seed during germination.

RESULTS

Results revealed that phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities varied with the germination stages. Germination significantly increased the free form phenolic and flavonoid contents by 112.5% and 168.3%, respectively. However, both of the bound form phenolic and flavonoid contents significantly decreased after germination. Phenolic acid compositions were quantified via HPLC analysis, and the levels of vanillic, p-coumaric, caffeic, hydroxybenzoic and protocatechuic acids in the free phenolic extracts were found to be significantly increased. The improvement of the free and total phenolic and flavonoid contents by the germination process led to a significant enhancement of the antioxidant activities (evaluated by the ABTS, FRAP and ORAC assays). The TPC showed the highest correlation with ORAC values (r = 0.9979).

CONCLUSION

Germinated adlay had higher free and total phenolic and flavonoid contents, and antioxidant activities than ungerminated adlay. This study indicates that germinated adlay could be a promising functional food, more suitable for human consumption. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.