Mixed konjac glucomannan/gelatin gels were mechanically characterized in the linear and large deformation regimes. Differential scanning calorimetry revealed no effect of konjac addition on gelling and melting of gelatin. The elastic moduli increased with increasing konjac content, but fracture stress slightly decreased. The rheological results and confocal laser scanning microscopy support segregative phase separation, where rigid polysaccharide domains act as bound fillers which are not separated by the solvent from the matrix and increase the Young's modulus, but the fracture stress is only weakly dependent on the concentration of the filler. The melting temperature of konjac‐modified gels remains below body temperature, indicating konjac addition does not increase danger of choking. The addition of konjac to gelatin gels with or without sucrose decreased sensory hardness and stickiness. For both types of gels, the addition of konjac made mastication and swallowing easier, making konjac/gelatin mixed gels an interesting alternative for gelatin gels. Practical Applications Mixed polysaccharide and protein gels are gaining popularity in the food industry. This study investigated the rheological consequences of konjac glucomannan addition to gelatin. The mixed gels had lower sensory hardness compared with pure gelatin gels, which led to lower perceived difficulty of mastication and swallowing. The mixed gels also retained their melt‐in‐mouth properties, as konjac did not affect the thermal properties.

A b s t r a c tA systematic gathering of winter triticale accessions was started in Poland in 1982 by the Institute of Genetics, Breeding and Seed Science at the Agricultural University in Lublin (at present its name is: Institute of Genetics, Breeding and Plant Biotechnology at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin). First, breeding lines obtained in local breeding stations were gathered. Next, accessions were imported from the following world gene banks: Beltsville, Gatersleben, and VIR. Interesting hybrid materials obtained in research centers were also included in the collection. Now, the collection includes 2349 accessions (1329 of winter triticale and 1020 of spring triticale). The evaluation is conducted in a 4-year cycle of field experiments using the same methods. The gathered accessions represent a large range of variability of both morphological and commercial traits. The large differentiation of accessions especially concerns traits such as: plant height, number and weight of grains per spike, protein content in grain, field resistance to powdery mildew, brown rust and leaf and spike diseases.

Multtvariate diversity of Polish winter triticale cultivars for spike and other traits The objective of the present study was to determine the extent and pattern of genotypic diversity for six spike quantitative characters and two other traits in 36 winter triticale cultivars released in Poland, to classify the cultivars into similarity groups (clusters) and to identify those traits, among the studied ones, which mostly discriminated distinguished groups of cultivars. The 36 cultivars, released in the period from 1982 to 1999, were evaluated across three years 2002-2004 at the Experimental Field Station in Czesławice near Nałęczów, Poland. The experiments were carried out on the brown soil with loess subsoil. In each year the one-replicated experimental design was used with 2 m2 plots, rows 20 cm apart, and dense sowing using about 2 cm spacing of seeds. Analyses of variance for each trait data according to the random model (both cultivars and years were assumed to be random factors) were done. To classify and characterize genotypic diversity of the cultivars for the eight traits, the pattern analysis was used. It involved both cluster analysis using Ward's procedure with a measure of the multivariate similarity among cultivars being Squared Euclidean Distance and canonical variate analysis (CVA) on the basis of cultivar BLUPs for the original traits. Quite different groups of cultivars for the studied traits were found, specially one group was substantially distanced to the others. As it was shown by CVA, spike length and number of spikelets per spike as negatively correlated with number of grains per spikelet in the studied set of the cultivars relatively largest contributed to overall differentiation of the distinguished eight groups and then, these traits best discriminated among the eight cultivar groups in the term of Mahalanobis distance for the considered traits. The 1000 grain weight and grain protein content much less contributed to overall discrimination of the cultivar groups than the previous four traits. The most important agronomic traits characterizing productivity of the spike grain weight and its two components, e.g. number of grains per spikelet and number of grains per spike had least discriminating power for the groups of cultivars. Grain yield per unit area of cereals is a result of spike grain yield and the number of spikes per unit area. In these studies of winter triticale cultivar diversity only grain spike yield and its components were included. Thus, the presented study are a primary evaluating of phenotypic diversity in the cultivars. The further study on the cultivar diversity evaluation for grain yield per unit area and its components is necessary.

Triticale (× Triticosecale Wittmack), developed by crossing rye and wheat, is increasingly applied in food production. The aim of this paper was to study the grinding process of eight new triticale grain (TG) varieties harvested in 2020 and 2021. TG was tempered to 12% of moisture and a knife mill was used for the size reduction. The following parameters characterizing the grinding process of TG were determined: specific grinding energy, Sokołowski grinding index, particle size distribution and average particle size. Additionally, the basic chemical composition, total phenolic content and antiradical activity of TG were determined. The protein content of TG was strongly influenced both by the variety and harvesting year, while other components were mostly affected by the genetic factor. The strongest influence on the grinding indices has a variety of TG. Specific grinding energy varied in the range of 14.0 kJ kg−1–17.8 kJ kg−1 and was positively correlated with the size of ground particles. Especially, the grain of Belcanto required lower grinding energy requirements and showed the strongest antioxidant capacity compared with other varieties of TG.