The relationship between in vitro enzymatic digestibility of cell walls of wheat internodes and compositional changes during maturation

Analyses of internodes from wheat taken at various times during maturation, and determination of their in vitro dry matter digestibility confirmed that the decrease in digestibility could be attributed both to a progressive loss in cell contents and also to a marked decrease in cellwall digestibility. The latter was not easily explained by the changes in the proportion of the major wall components (cellulose, arabinoxylan and lignin), but may be explained in terms of the physical and chemical associations between wall polymers. Among these, covalent crosslinking and bridging by hydroxycinnamic acids are important candidates.