Mineral variability of different triticale flours varieties cultivated in Republic of Moldova

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the mineral composition of flours produced from different triticale varieties cultivated in Republic of Moldova. For this prupose, seven of whole flours derived from triticale varieties Ingen 33, Ingen 35, Ingen 93, Ingen 54, Ingen 40, Fanica, Costel were analyzed to determine their mineral composition using an Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX) and also an atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). The total mineral content has been determined using the ICC 104/1 method. According to the data obtained the highest mineral content has been obtained for Ingen 93 and the lowest one for Ingen 54 and Fanica. To EDX, the fallowing mineral elements were found: potassium (K), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), sulf (S), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu). Some of the mineral elements have been determined using AAS such as Ca, Zn, Fe, Cu and Na. Among all the analyzed mineral elements, copper was in the lowest amount whereas potassium was in the largest amount followed by phosphorus and calcium in all triticale flour samples. According to our results a high variability have been obtained among triticale varieties. The knowledge of this variation may be useful for consumers from the nutritional point of view and for further breeding studies in order to improve triticale nutritional quality. Funding: This work was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-IV-P8-8.3-ROMD-2023-0078, within PNCDI IV.