A Crop of High Nutritional Quality and Health Maintenance Value: The Importance of Tartary Buckwheat Breeding

Ivan Kreft, Aleksandra Golob and Mateja Germ ()
Additional contact information
Ivan Kreft: Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Aleksandra Golob: Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Mateja Germ: Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: Tartary buckwheat ( Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn.), originating in the Himalayan area, is cultivated in central Asia and northern, central, and eastern Europe. Tartary buckwheat grain and sprouts are rich in flavonoid metabolites rutin and quercetin. The synthesis of flavonoids in plants is accelerated by UV-B solar radiation to protect the plants against radiation damage. During Tartary buckwheat food processing, a part of rutin is enzymatically converted to quercetin. Rutin and quercetin are able to pass the blood–brain barrier. Studies have investigated the effects of rutin and quercetin on blood flow to the brain, consequently bringing more nutrients and oxygen to the brain, and causing improved brain function. In addition to the impact on blood flow, rutin and quercetin have been shown to have antioxidative properties. The goals of breeding Tartary buckwheat are mainly to maintain and enhance the high nutritional quality. The goals could be reached via the breeding of Tartray buckwheat for larger cotyledons. Other main breeding efforts should be concentrated on the easy husking of the grain, the prevention of seed shattering, and the improvement in growth habits to obtain uniformity in grain ripening and a stable and high yield.

Keywords: Fagopyrum tataricum; flavonoids; rutin; quercetin; food; nutrition; breeding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/9/1783/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/9/1783/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:9:p:1783-:d:1236118

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().