Fatty Acids Contents & Nutritional Compositions of Grains of Different Barley Genotypes

Abstract

Barley is an important cereal in the world regarding its utilisation and extensive production as a feed and food grain in many countries. But little information is available on barley oil in terms of its composition. The aim of this study was to describe the importance of barley seeds by extracting their oil and determine its composition regarding lipids along with evaluations on composition, nutrient content, feed value and quality parameters. The crude ash, crude protein, ADF, NDF and ADL ratios of the seeds of barley genotypes varied between 3.5-7.1%; 8.3-13.4%; 13.5-26.0%; 23.8-36.3% and 1.99-8.78%, respectively. The DMD ratios, DMI ratios, RFV values, TDN ratios, DE and ME values of genotypes varied between 68.7-78.4%; 3.30-5.05%; 175.9-304.0%; 62.9-72.3%; 3.21-3.63 MJ/kg and 9.67-11.33 Mcal/kg, respectively. The total lipid content of the examined genotypes varied between 1.7 and 3.9%. Several fatty acids were detected; Palmitic, stearic and arachidic acids from saturated fatty acids were detected in the seeds of all barley genotypes examined in the study. The seed lipids of some barley genotypes contain palmitic (16.80-25.56%) and stearic (1.33-3.70%) acids as the major component of fatty acids, among the saturated acids, with small amounts of arachidic (0.24-0.54%) and behenic (0.06-0.90%) acids. The major unsaturated fatty acids found in the seed lipids were oleic (15.30-33.78%), linoleic (41.92-55.28%) and linolenic (2.84-5.43%) acids. Palmitoleic, erucic, docosahexaenoic and nervonic acids were shown to be lower than 1%. Eicosenoic and erucic acids were detected in all barley genotypes. Barley seeds may be used as a source of edible oil due to the presence of several unsaturated and essential fatty acids.