M. Dubois, W. F. Geddes, and F. Smith. Copyright 1960 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. The embryonic plant and scutellum, obtained by hand-dissection of a soft white wheat, variety Holland, comprised 1.25 and 1.39% respectively of the dry weight of the kernel. The total sugar content of the embryonic plant was 21.9% and of the scutellum 18.4% on a defatted dry matter basis, or 20.1% of the total embryo. Paper chromatography revealed that the sugars consisted almost entirely of sucrose (embryo, 54.7%; scutellum, 62.0%) and raffinose (embryo, 45.3%; scutellum 38.0%) with only traces of glucose. The sugar content of the scutellum decreased when the kernels were exposed to moisture for 1 and 2 days, indicating that the sugar content of the germ may be a useful index of the storage history of wheat. Commercial wheat germ milled from hard wheats which had been stored several months at 5 C. and then defatted, contained 16.8% total sugars (dry matter basis) consisting of 57.6% sucrose, 37.6% raffinose, 4.8% fructose, and small quantities of glucose. A single wheat germ may be analyzed by the micro techniques which have been devised. |
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