Variation in a Barley Collection for Endosperm Attributes That Relate to Malting Quality

Éstimates of grain hardness from measurements of milling energy were made on four hundred and eighty barley cultivars. The same cultivars were also subjected to an infra-red analysis used to predict soluble β-glucan and nitrogen contents. The results demonstrated variation for these endosperm characters, with eighteen cultivars having a lower milling energy, and more than a hundred cultivars with a lower soluble β-glucan content than Gerkra, a barley with good malting quality. Of these, nine cultivars were lower for both characteristics. Information about this variation is, therefore, potentially useful when breeding for malting quality.