IRON AND ZINC CONCENTRATION IN WHEAT CULTIVARS FROM THE SOUTH BRAZILIAN RECOMMENDED LIST

Background and objectives: Iron and zinc are important to human nutrition and for human health. The FAO Harvest Plus program is working on biofortification of human food with the objective to obtain biofortified agricultural products. In Brazil, the Embrapa's wheat breeding program begun the research of wheat biofortification in 2009. Since this time many genotypes were characterized for iron and zinc concentration in the grains. The previously results showed that levels above 40 ppm of iron and zinc are high for the evaluated material. On the other side, it is also important to know what we are consuming in our meals. So, the main objective of this research is to evaluate iron and zinc concentration in cultivars from the South Brazilian wheat recommended list. Methods: Twenty nine cultivars were sowed in the field, in 2015, at the Embrapa's experimental Station. At maturity, spikes of each cultivar were harvested and threshed manually, to avoid iron and zinc contamination. The iron and zinc quantification was performed in an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer. Results: For zinc, the results showed an average of 31,04 ppm of zinc. Twelve cultivars with similar concentration formed the highest group, including Vaqueano (the highest with 36,64 ppm of iron), TBIO Tibagi, BRS Parrudo, BRS Guamirim, BRS 327, Marfim, Estrela Atria, Jadeíte, FCEP 50, CD 1440, BRS Marcante and FCEP Campo Real. The lowest group was formed by TEC 10, Ametista, TBIO Sintonia, ORS Vintecinco and LG Prisma (which was the lowest with 23,82 ppm of zinc). For iron, the results showed an average of 35,10 ppm. The cultivar BRS Parrudo was superior in iron to all other cultivars, with 44,01 ppm, confirming previous evaluation. A second group was formed, in which iron concentration varied from 38,91 to 34,49 ppm. The lower group included TEC 10, BRS Marcante, TEC Frontale, Celebra, Estrela Atria, Ametista and ORS Vintecinco (with only 28,91 ppm of Iron). Conclusions: After this results, BRS Parrudo showed the highest level of iron concentration in the grains and will be the basic material for continuing the breeding research for wheat biofortification in South Brazilian Region.