The presence of storage pests in the stored produce leads to the impurification of the latter and to the diminution of bread-making and germinating features of the seeds, sometimes making them improper for use as such. The biological value of the proteins in the wheat grains is high, since they contain all essential amino-acids, acids that the human body alone cannot synthesise. Compared to the requirements of the human body, requirements that somehow limit the biological value of the proteins in the wheat, the amino-acid lysine is in small amounts; compared to lysine, there are even smaller amounts of methionine, isoleukine, and triptophane. The goal of research was to monitor the changes of the amino-acids in the wheat grains infested by Rhizoperta dominica. They have published relatively very little on the effects of the infestation by this insect of essential and non-essential amino-acids in the wheat grain. Results of bio-chemical analyses with modern methods, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) shall be supplied to all interested farmers, to milling and bread-making enterprises, as well as to similar academic institutions in Romania and abroad. Quantitative changes of the amino-acids were monitored on a number of 5 sample variants infested with 25, 50, 75, and 100 insects of Rhizoperta dominica, respectively. As a result of the measurements, we can see that the essential amino-acid the most consumed by Rhizoperta dominica is valine, followed by isoleukine and histidine, while the most consumed non-essential amino-acid preferred by this pest species is praline. As a conclusion, after a month of attack by the pest species Rhizoperta dominica, there is considerable biological value decrease of the proteins in wheat caused by the consumption of essential amino-acids.

infestation; Rhizoperta dominica; modifications; amino acids

Presentation: oral