Characterization of Nonconventional Food Plants Seeds Guizotia abyssinica (L.f.) Cass., Panicum miliaceum L., and Phalaris canariensis L. for Application in the Bakery Industry
Consumers have given preferences to food products that, in addition to the nutritional
properties, also present bioactive characteristics with beneficial health effects. The use of Nonconventional
Food Plants (NCFP) has been an asset for the food industry, not only due to its abundance but,
also, because it does not compete with other vegetable matrices used for human consumption for
its nutritional properties, chemical and bioactive potentiality. The present work aimed to study the
granulometry and water absorption index of three seeds of unconventional food plants: niger, millet
and birdseed, followed by their nutritional value, content in free sugars, fatty acids, organic acids,
tocopherols and phenolic compounds by chromatographic methods and, also, the evaluation of the
antioxidant, hepatotoxic and antimicrobial potential in their hydroethanolic extracts. Bakery products
were developed with a partial replacement of wheat flour, using the centroid simplex method to
understand the effect of applying NCFP flours in the final physical–chemical characteristics. The high
granulometry associated with the high water absorption index indicates that the use of NCFP flours
would have to be complemented with other flours for baking. The chemical composition of niger
seed stood out the most; however, all seeds presented relatively low IC50 and MIC values for the
inhibition of lipid peroxidation and antimicrobial activity, respectively. Finally, breads made with a
mixture of millet and birdseed flour showed the greatest similarity to the control bread. Considering
their composition in bioactive compounds, the use of these seeds is highly advisable in the context
of a fortified diet, being sources of compounds of high nutritional value and with beneficial health
effects for the final consumer.
The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT; Portugal) for
financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020), the national
funding for F.C.T. and P.I. and through the institutional scientific employment program contract for
C.P., M.I.D. and L.B. The authors are grateful to FEDER—Interreg España—Portugal programme for
financial support through the project TRANSCoLAB 0612_TRANS_CO_LAB_2_P to ERDF through
the Regional Operational Program North 2020 within the scope of the project GreenHealth-Norte-01-
0145-FEDER-000042. This research was funded by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and
Technological Development (Contract No. 451-03-9/2021-14/200007).
