Cereal Chem 56:243 - 244.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Alpha-Amylase Inhibitors from Wheat Kernels as Factors in Resistance to Postharvest Insects.

M. A. Yetter, R. M. Saunders, and H. P. Boles. Copyright 1979 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Alpha-amylase inhibitors were extracted from kernels of five hard winter wheat varieties that were grown at different locations in two crop years and that had been evaluated for susceptibility or resistance to the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L). Inhibitor activity was assayed with larval alpha-amylase from two species of stored grain pests, the rice weevil and the yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor L. Correlation in some wheat varities was observed between in vivo resistance to the insect and the extend of in vitro inhibition of the insect larval alpha-amylase by the extracted inhibitors. These results indicate that alpha-amylase inhibitors in wheat could be involved in the resistance of wheat to postharvest infestation.