Evaluating Total Phenolic Content, Antioxidant Activity, High Molecular Weight Glutenin Subunits (HMW-GS), and Grain Yield Parameters of Cultivated Wheat and Hybrids

This study was conducted to assess the high molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS), yield, total phenolic content (TPC), and antioxidant capacity using five assays: free radical scavenging (DPPH and ABTS), reducing power (CUPRAC and FRAP), and phosphomolybdenum. Wheat species, old cultivar, landrace, and hybrid wheat genotypes were compared with adaptive modern bread and durum wheat cultivars. Under rainfed conditions, high grain yield was particularly obtained from T. turanicum, T. polonicum, and T. compactum wheat species, as T. spelta, T. compactum, T. turanicum, T. turgidum, and T. polonicum were better performed to grain yield under irrigated conditions. In the study, the wheat genotypes, T. petropavlovskyi, T. spelta, T. sphaerococcum, T. compactum, Yektay 406, Ak 702, Köse 220/39, and wheat hybrids were found to have the HMW-GS 2 + 12 in Glu-D1 in relation to low quality. The Yellowstone wheat cultivar carried high-quality alleles together for 1 in Glu-A1 and 5 + 10 in Glu-D1. The study exhibited that T. monococcum (einkorn), T. spelta (spelt), T. dicoccum (emmer), and Yektay 406 (old cultivar) for better antioxidant capacity were displayed together in the same cluster of the dendrogram constructed by DPPH, ABTS, CUPRAC, FRAP, and phosphomolybdenum assay results. In addition, significant correlations were observed between TPC, ABTS, CUPRAC, FRAP, and phosphomolybdenum. The study suggested that ancient wheat species superior to the investigated characteristics had antioxidants beneficial for healthy nutrition and may also be used in the improvement of cultivars with high yield and quality.