Estimation of the spring barley grain quality in the middle Volga region

   For the effective use of barley varieties for food, feed and brewing purposes, breeding process must be carried out on breeding-valuable traits taking into account the biochemical composition of the grain.

   The purpose of the current study was to estimate the grain quality of spring barley varieties for effective targeted use in the Middle Volga region, to identify correlations between grain quality indicators.

   The study was conducted at the Samara RIA, SamFRC RIA in 2022–2024. Sixteen spring barley varieties from competitive variety testing were used as experimental material. In the conditions of the Middle Volga region, over the years of study, there were identified varieties with a high protein percentage (14.0–15.4 %), which could be widely used in animal husbandry as valuable feed or as an ingredient in the production of feed with increased nutritional value, such as Nutans 553, Finist, Lun, Bezenchuksky 2, Agat, Povolzhsky 65, Volgar. All varieties participating in the study have formed a full grain (684–716 g/l) and can be used to produce cereals. There has been established that the spring barley varieties had a high ‘falling number’ of 337–461 s, which indicates low activity of α-amylase in the grain. High-protein barley varieties with low amylolytic activity are high-quality raw materials not only for the feed and cereal industries, but also for bakery industry. The results of the correlation between quality indicators should be used to improve biochemical and technological properties of barley grain. There was a positive correlation between protein percentage and grain nature in 2022 and 2024 with contrasting weather conditions (0.62**, 0.61**). In 2023 and 2024 grain nature was somewhat less closely correlated with starch content (0.53*; 0.55*). In all years of the study the ‘falling number’ closely correlated with 1000-grain weight (0.69**; 0.71**, 0.51*).

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