ARS | Publication request: MALTING BARLEY RESEARCH AT THE USDA-ARS CEREAL CROPS RESEARCH UNIT

Submitted to: Barley Improvement Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: August 1, 1995
Publication Date: N/A

Interpretive Summary: This paper reviews recent research that has been carried out by the four USDA-ARS, Cereal Crops Research Unit researchers. All of us have research responsibility in the field of barley biochemistry and/or molecular biology. The paper covers the following: 1) How we analyze new barley lines to determine whether or not they are good enough to be acceptable to industry, and how we work with other public sector researchers to advance our knowledge of barley and malt biochemistry; 2) How we are altering our malting methods to make our measurements more useful to industry and to other barley researchers; 3) Our research that is directed toward understanding the enzymes of malted barley that are responsible for breaking down the proteins of barley to give improved brewing quality; 4) Research into compounds in barley and malt that stop the action of the enzymes that break down proteins; 5) Studies on barley mutants that may provide information leading to the development of plumper barley grains; 6) Studies on vitamin E in barley. This vitamin may prove important for increasing the healthful properties of malt; and 7) Investigations on how barley carbohydrates are broken down during malting. These studies will lead to improved malting barley varieties and to better methods for industrially converting cereal carbohydrates to high-value sugars.

Technical Abstract: This paper reviews recent research that has been carried out by the four USDA-ARS, Cereal Crops Research Unit researchers. Among the projects reviewed are: 1) The analysis of the malting quality of various barley lines; 2) Possible alteration of the malting methods used in our laboratory; 3) Studies on the endoproteinases of barley and green malt; 4) Studies of the endogenous endoproteinase inhibitors of barley and kilned malt; 5) Studies on barley shrunken endosperm mutants; 6) Vitamin E in barley; 7) The regulation of the synthesis of high-pI and low-pI alpha-amylases; 8) The effects of the starchy endosperm on hydrolytic enzyme regulation; and 9) reserve carbohydrate metabolism in cereals.