Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

PHENOL COLOUR REACTION AND ITS BIOCHEMICAL BASIS IN CULTIVATED WHEAT GENOTYPES

Payal Mathur1 and S.K. Chakrabarty

Abstract

For seed to play a catalytic role, it should reach farmers in a good quality state, i.e. high genetic purity and identity. So, varietal purity testing plays a critical role in preventing varietal admixtures. Phenol colour reaction is being used as a rapid varietal identification technique for a long time. PPO has been implicated to cause this enzymatic browning. Polyphenol oxidase activity (PPO) must be reduced or eliminated if wheat quality is to be improved. This research was undertaken for development of quick genetic purity testing method in wheat varieties and to study the effect of PPO activity during storage in cultivated wheat. The biochemical studies of the pathway which gives phenol colouration has also been studied.