155 Oat flour fractionation for beta-glucan concentration.

R. M. de SÁ and A. de FRANCISCO. Cereal Science and Technology Lab, Dept. Food Science and Technology, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil.

Oat flour was fractionated in order to redistribute and concentrate beta-glucans. The cultivar IAC 7 used, was obtained from SL Cereais e Alimentos Ltda, one of the main oat and cereal companies of Southern Brazil. The hulled samples were defatted with n-hexane and milled in a UDY cyclone sample mill to a particle size of <0.5 mm. A Ro-tap equipped with 80, 100 and 150 mesh screens yielded 5 fractions. Using this method, it was possible to concentrate the beta-glucans in the coarsest fraction (>180 mm) increasing the original 5.44% of the flour by 2.39 times. In general, the beta-glucan concentration decreased with particle size.