Cereal Chem 68:376-382   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Nutrient Distribution in Five Perennial Grain Species Exhibited by Light and Scanning Electron Microscopy.

D. W. Irving, J. L. Peake, and V. A. Breda. Copyright 1991 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The anatomy and histochemistry of mature caryopses of five perennial grains (Agropyron intermedium, A. trichophorum, Secale montanum, Hordeum bulbosum, and Tripsacum dactyloides) were studied by fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy. All five grains contain starch granules and protein in the starchy endosperm. Protein bodies, which often contain phytin inclusions, are abundant in the aleurone and embryo. Lipid deposits are primarily located in the embryo and aleurone. Caryopses of A. intermedium, A. trichophorum, S. montanum, and H. bulbosum are similar morphologically, having two populations of starch granules as well as continuous protein matrix in starchy endosperm tissue. The aleurone of Agropyron spp., T. dactyloides, and S. montanum are single celled in thickness. H. bulbosum has a multiple-layered aleurone (usually three cells thick). The caryopsis of T. dactyloids is nearly spherical, and the starchy endosperm contains spherical starch granules embedded in a matrix of small protein bodies. The embryo of T. dactyloides contains starch granules.