Cereal grain quality: focus on the fibre hidden within the grain

We are studying the role of cell walls in the quality of cereal grains. Cell walls are part of the dietary fibre that has been shown to have a beneficial effect on human health and therefore play a role in the fibre content of cereal products. On the other hand, the walls of certain cereal grains could have deleterious effects, such as limiting the digestibility of proteins in particular in humans, or having harmful effects on the digestive health of certain farm animals (e.g. chicken). Cereal walls also influence the quality of cereal grains when they are processed into food products (e.g. suitability for grinding and fractioning grain to obtain flour, suitability for bread-making in wheat), and non-food products (agrofuels, agromaterials).

In particular, we are working on :

• characterising natural and/or climate change-induced wall variability and understanding its impact on grain quality
• understanding the impact of technological processes on the nutritional quality of grains for human and animal consumption
• understanding the effect of grain germination on improving the nutritional quality of cereals
• improving the assessment of the technological quality of grains (ANR EvaGrain project)