Composition of whole and refined meals of Kamut under southern Italian conditions

Due to the need for crop diversification and sustainable agriculture, and the increasing demand of healthy foods, a renewed interest in the so-called 'ancient wheats' took place in the last decades. In this study, whole and refined meals of Oriental wheat accession QK-77, registered as Kamut, were compared with four cultivars, one each for common wheat, cv Rio, durum wheat, cv Norba, emmer, cv Farvento, and spelt, cv Forenza. Fifteen parametrs related to meal composition were investigated. Kamut, emmer and spelt cvs showed the higher protein and ash contents. Distinctive traits of Kamut were higher amounts of selenium and pigments. To better perceive the differences among the cvs, data were submitted to the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) Two sub-groups, corresponding to whole and refined meals, were distinguishable in the three-dimensinal plot. Overall, compositional traits of Kamut meals were comparable with those of cv Norba.