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A Rapid Method for Quantifying Total Anthocyanins in Blue Aleurone and Purple Pericarp Wheats

¹Crop Development Centre, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 5A8. ²Corresponding author. E-mail: abdelaal@sask.usask.ca Fax: 306/966-5015.

A simple, rapid method for determining total anthocyanins was developed for use in developing wheat cultivars with dark-blue grains. The method was evaluated as a screening test and for quantification of total anthocyanins in blue and purple wheats and related cereals. Wheat anthocyanins were significantly more extractable in ethanol or methanol than in water at different pH levels. A sample-to-solvent ratio of 1:8 at pH 1 and 25°C was used. Anthocyanin extracts of pigmented wheat and barley grains exhibited absorbance spectra similar to cyanidin 3-glucoside. The absorbance of anthocyanin extracts of 160 blue wheat experimental lines were significantly correlated with whole-grain Hunterlab color values. Total anthocyanins averaged 157 mg/kg in blue wheat whole meal and 104 mg/kg in purple wheat whole meal, whereas blue wheat bran contained 458 mg/kg as compared with 251 mg/kg in purple wheat bran.