Use of a scanning near‐infrared reflectance spectrophotometer for assessment of the malting potential of barley

A scanning near‐infrared reflectance spectrophotometer was calibrated for the estimation of barley protein, moisture, total β‐glucan and predicted malt extract. About 50 samples covering the range normally encountered in selection in barley breeding were used for each calibration. The best prediction equations each using three wavelengths, gave the following root mean square differences for the samples used in the calibration; nitrogen, 0.042%; moisture, 0.22%; total β‐glucan, 0.26%; predicted malt extract, 1.4%. However, prediction of samples not in the calibration set was always slightly less accurate. These four characters were predicted in about 25 s allowing rapid screening for malting quality of large numbers of barley samples. The speed and simplicity with which successful calibrations could be produced suggests that the regular updating of calibrations to include barley from new seasons or regions should be possible.