Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) landraces reveal potential for the biofortification of carotenoid esters in grain

6th Conference on Cereal Biotechnology and Breeding, jointly organized by EUCARPIA Cereals Section. Online Conference, 3–5 November 2021 / Budapest, Hungary.Carotenoids are lipophilic pigments essential in the human diet. In addition, carotenoids are responsible of the yellow colour of food, including the desired yellow color of durum wheat derived-products such as pasta or couscous. Durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) has high content of carotenoids, being lutein the predominant carotenoid, representing over 90% of the carotenoids in the endosperm. The esterification of carotenoids allows greater accumulation in plant tissues and increases its stability which leads to greater retention through the food chain. Therefore, the carotenoid esterification is being considered as a new target in breeding programs. However, carotenoid esters have never found in tetraploid wheats such as durum wheat or emmer. In this work, 156 Spanish durum wheat landraces were characterized for carotenoid content and profile in order to identify accessions with the ability to produce xanthophyll esters.Project AGL2017‐85368‐P funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033/ FEDER “ Una manera de hacer Europa ” . MDRR was supported by PRE2018‐084037 funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and FSE “El FSE invierte en tu futuro”