Premium
Influence of Sample Treatment on Apparent Hydrocyanic Acid Potential of Sorghum Leaf Tissue 1
Author(s) -
Haskins F. A.,
Gorz H. J.,
Hill R. M.,
Youngquist J. Brakke
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1984.0011183x002400060036x
Subject(s) - sorghum , extraction (chemistry) , hydrolysis , biology , ether , sorghum bicolor , botany , plant tissue , chromatography , nuclear chemistry , biochemistry , chemistry , agronomy , organic chemistry
When dhurrin [ p ‐hydroxy‐(S)‐mandelonitrile‐β‐D‐glucoside], the cyanogenlc glucoside of sorghum [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], is hydrolyzed by autoclaving, p ‐hydroxybenzaldehyde ( p ‐HB) is released. The spectrophotometric determination of p HB concentration in autoclaved sorghum leaf extracts provides a measure of the hydrocyanic acid potential (HCN‐p) of leaf tissue. Extracts of field‐grown sorghumle aves contained substances that interfered with this procedure, but ether extraction effectively separated p ‐HB from these interfering materials. We observed that when flag leaf tissue from field‐grown sorghum was dried at 75°C and then autoclaved, HCN‐pva lues were about three times as high as those based on tissue that was autoclaved without drying. Investigations of this apparent enhancement supported the conclusion that when fresh field‐grown sorghum leaf tissue was autoclaved, dhurrin was extensively altered or lost, but neither p ‐HB nor HCN was produced. Drying the tissue at 75°C prior to autoclaving effectively reduced this loss. Inclusion of tissue drying and ether extraction steps in the spectrophotometric assay made this procedure, which was designed for use with sorghumse edlings, satisfactory for use with field‐grown sorghum leaves.