Resistant starch (RS) has been recognised as a functional fibre with many health-promoting effects. RS exists in four forms – RS₁, RS₂, RS₃, and RS₄. The RS₃type is generated by amylose retrogradation typically resulting from food processing procedures. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the potential ability of six agriculturally important cereals to generate type RS₃resistant starch after retrogradation of their amylose. In comparison with all tested cereals, the statistically significant highest level of RS₃ (5.28% ± 0.68) was detected in triticale, mainly in the Pinokio, Presto, Tricolor, and Kendo cultivars. Significant highly content was also found in rye (4.93% ± 0.73), especially in Selgo, Esprit, Dankowskie Nowe, and Apart cultivars, in comparison with wheat, spring and winter barley, tritordeum and oat. There were unsignificant differences between triticale and rye in RS₃ levels. Wheat contained less RS₃ (3.87% ± 0.55) in comparison to triticale and rye. The best wheats with this trait were the Athlet, Boka, Trane, Versailles, and Torysa cultivars. The content of RS₃ in barley was not high (2.35% ± 0.45 in winter barley, 2.51% ± 0.25 in spring barley), similar to tritordeum (2.26% ± 0.36). The RS₃ content in high amylose barley mutant Glacier was two-fold higher than in other tested barley cultivars (P < 0.01). Only minimal level of RS₃ can be generated from oat seed starch (0.41% ± 0.09). These results indicate that plant species as well as crop cultivar screening are important for the identification of suitable natural sources of resistant starch. Concerning the production of functional foods, it is important to recognize that valuable bread cereals such as wheat and rye are superior sources of this type of dietary fibre and are highly beneficial to the human health. However, it is advisable to continue for other years in these annual results and localities too.  

The content of biogenic compounds and the biological activities of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)-grain extracts was evaluated. The sufficiently large and heterogeneous set of barley genotypes (100 accessions) enabled the selection of special genotypes interesting for potential industrial, pharmaceutical, and medicinal applications. Barley genotypes with the highest contents of phenols, phenolic acids, flavonoids, biogenic thiols, and amines, radical-scavenging activity, as well as inhibitory activities of trypsin, thrombin, collagenase, urokinase, and cyclooxygenase were identified.

A set of 49 chickpea accessions maintained in the collection of the Genebank of the Slovak Republic was analyzed using microsatellite markers. The level of genetic diversity and the effectivity of new germplasm acquisition for the collection enrichment were evaluated. Five primer pairs used generated 50 different amplified alleles. Four of them, TA2, TA5, TR1, and TR7, containing a long TAA-tandem repeat, were polymorphic with 11-13 alleles per locus. A single fragment was obtained from all the accessions with the primer pair CATPER flanking a small microsatellite repetition in the mRNA sequence of chickpea cationic peroxidase. The genetic diversity was expressed as a diversity index (DI) and polymorphic information content (PIC) with values in the range from 0.885 to 0.904 and from 0.972 to 0.991, respectively. Recently acquired new germplasm contributed 13 new alleles to the entire collection, i.e. almost 70% of microsatellite diversity originated from the recently acquired accessions. Remarkable is also, that one accession carries a unique allel, not present in the remaining collection. Microsatellite analysis revealed the importance of collecting missions for the enrichment of collections of genetic resources.

Communicated by Edîte KaufmaneThe work is focused on the evaluation of variability of morphological and pomological characteristics of several old sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.)