Scientists chose bread not by chance: most people use it daily. And to make it more useful, they endowed it with the properties of fruits. The researchers note that, fortified with vitamins and minerals, cereals protect the human immune system and can form the basis of a healthy diet.
Today, the Omsk State Agrarian University (OmSAU), which won a state mega-grant (90 million rubles), is completing an international project to create new varieties of colored enriched wheat. The head of the program, a world-famous scientist, Turkish professor of nutrition Hamit Koksel, came to Omsk to summarize the results and outline joint plans for the future with Russian scientists.
– The project will help solve the problem faced by many countries, including Russia, the deteriorating health of the population, explained the correspondent of “RG” Hamit Koksel. – This can be avoided with the help of new functional properties of bread, which is included in the daily diet of most people, and in underdeveloped countries its share in the diet reaches forty percent. A good scientific base has been created in Omsk for such research. Enriched bread is good for the circulatory system, vision. Helps prevent cancer. And since Russia is one of the world’s leading wheat exporters, such studies are of particular value.
Thanks to a grant, an international breeding and genetics center has been established at the Omsk Agro University, whose task is to promote the introduction of innovative cereal varieties on the market.
– We have three laboratories – selection, genetics and quality. The last one in terms of equipment, that is, in terms of capabilities, is still the best in the country. The equipment makes it possible to study and compare the properties of colored wheat, on which sixty research institutes from thirteen countries are currently working. There is a real race to create new generation varieties that not only nourish the body, but also increase its resistance to diseases. The applied molecular technologies make it possible to greatly speed up the selection process. We are already ahead of China, India, Austria and other countries in many aspects. Our colored wheat varieties, in addition to the high content of anthocyanins, phenolic acids and antioxidant activity, also have high yields and adaptability, are resistant to drought, – says the director of the center, Professor Vladimir Shamanin.
For three years, scientists have completed a huge amount of work. In particular, we evaluate the quality of wheat in the Ural and Western Siberian macroregions, analyze the nutritional value of samples, create collections of genotypes with improved properties, and prepare technological recommendations for bakers.
The state subsidy supposes the fulfillment of a series of other objectives.
– One of the objectives of the project is the training of professional personnel, – explained to the RG correspondent Inna Pototskaya, a professor at the Department of Breeding, Genetics and Agronomy at the Omsk State Agrarian University. – Within a year, we must publish five articles in leading scientific journals, issue three patents, prepare a candidate and a doctor of science, develop and implement three additional training programs for university students and staff. Two graduate students must complete an internship abroad. And every year we have to win an additional grant with a new research topic. We strictly comply with all these conditions.
It is curious that the Omsk breeders decided to devote one of the studies to local breeds, varieties collected by Academician Vavilov. Scientists reanimated dozens of samples and found that they are much higher in quality than modern mass varieties, which have lost their useful properties for a hundred years in search of productivity. Another grant is earmarked for research and quality improvement of winter wheat.
Now Omsk breeders breed not only colored varieties with high yields and resistance to natural disasters, but also perennials. They also experiment productively with wheatgrass.
– Wheatgrass is good because it consumes little water. Breeding with it will lead to the sustainable development of agriculture even in dry conditions and will help in the long term to save the planet’s water resources, which are increasingly being lost, – says Hamit Koksel.
Now Omsk scientists have begun to dye the grain black, thereby providing new useful qualities of bread. In Russia, this is a precedent. According to experts, this grain is in great demand in both poor and developed countries, such as China, Canada and the United States. Enriched wheat with a high added value is exported. It is beneficial for the economy.
Technologies for the production of such grain do not require additional costs, since they do not differ from traditional ones. Recipes for baking colored bread allow you to fully preserve its beneficial properties. At the same time, the innovative product is fragrant, has a sweet taste, does not go rancid, does not mold and looks very appetizing.
However, the consumption of whole grains in the country remains extremely low. People find it difficult to change their eating habits. In the old fashioned way, they buy white bread made of fine flour, which emasculates all the beneficial properties of the grain.
By the way
Scientists from the Omsk State Agrarian University, together with large companies, have begun to produce pilot batches of useful products created according to a recipe developed in the laboratories of the university. It’s not just bread, muffins, cookies, chips, but also sugar-free gero-diet dairy products, especially useful for older generations.
