Tocotrienols and tocopherols in colored-grain wheat, tritordeum and barley

•Tocol contents in color-grained wheat, tritordeum and barley were assessed.•Higher tocol content in spring wheat compared to winter wheat was determined.•Higher tocol content was characteristic for blue- and purple-grained spring wheat.•Growing year conditions affected tocol levels in some cereal genotypes.•In barley 6-8 tocols were quantified, in tritordeum and wheat four tocols.

Colored-grain spring and winter wheat, spring tritordeum and barley (blue aleurone, purple pericarp, and yellow endosperm) from the harvests 2014 and 2015 were evaluated for tocol contents by HPLC-FD. Higher content of total tocols was found in spring wheat varieties compared with winter varieties. Four tocols (β-tocotrienol, α-tocotrienol, β-tocopherol, and α-tocopherol) were identified in wheat and tritordeum varieties. Dominant tocols in purple- and blue-grained wheat and yellow-grained tritordeum were α-tocopherol and β-tocotrienol, whereas spring barley varieties differed from wheat and tritordeum by high α-tocotrienol content. Tocol content was significantly affected by genotype and in a lesser extent in some varieties and lines also by rainfall and temperatures during crop year. Higher rainfall and lower temperatures caused in most varieties higher tocol contents. Purple- and blue-grained wheat lines with higher tocol, anthocyanin and phenolic acids with health benefits may be useful for breeding new varieties.