Cereal Chem 59:454 - 458.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Grain Shrivelling in Secondary Hexaploid Triticale. I. Alpha-Amylase Activity and Carbohydrate Content of Mature and Developing Grains.

R. J. Pena and L. S. Bates. Copyright 1982 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Eight secondary hexaploid triticale cultivars of known wheat parentage and rye chromosomal composition, grown under uniform conditions at Cd. Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, during the winter of 1977-1978, were evaluated for alpha-amylase activity and carbohydrate content. Grain from each cultivar was classified as plump, medium shrivelled, and highly shrivelled. All triticale whole grain and flour samples had higher alpha-amylase activity than wheat or rye. Alpha-amylase activity and starch content of mature grain varied with the extent of grain shrivelling, whereas total soluble sugars and reducing sugars were unrelated to grain shrivelling in secondary hexaploid triticale. Compositional changes during seed development from the three grain classes of the triticale cultivar Rahum indicated that the factors producing grain shrivelling also affect the alpha-amylase activity in the grain. Changes in water and starch contents indicated that the highly shrivelled grains reached physiological maturity earlier than did the plump grains. Total and reducing sugars did not reflect the high alpha-amylase activity of highly shrivelled grains, suggesting that the grain can eliminate excessive levels of soluble carbohydrate, possibly by catabolizing or relocating mechanisms.