Relationship Between Quality Parameters and SKCS Hardness Index in Malting Barley

Takashi Nagamine^1,2,3, Takahiro Sekiwa², Emiko Yamaguchi², Mika Oozeki² and Tsuneo Kato²
¹ Barley Research Team, National Agriculture Research Center for Western Region, 1-3-1 Senyu, Zentsuji, Kagawa 765-8508, Japan.
² Laboratory of Malting Barley Breeding, Tochigi Branch, Tochigi Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station, 2920 Ohtsuka-cho, Tochigi, Tochigi 328-0007, Japan.
³ Corresponding author. E-mail: naga@affrc.go.jp.

J. Inst. Brew. 115(4), 292–295, 2009 | VIEW ARTICLE

ABSTRACT
To make an efficient and laborsaving quality selection in a malting barley breeding program, the relationship between malting quality parameters and the hardness index (HI) measured by Single Kernel Characterization System (SKCS) 4100 was studied with barley genetic resources and a group of descendant lines from “Yon Rkei 1363” that possess the high lysine allele lys1 and a very high diastatic power (DP). There was a highly significant correlation between the grain HI and the malt extract both in the genetic resources (r = –0.48**) and in the lys1 parent-derived lines (r = –0.50**). Malt HI showed a highly significant correlation with malt extract (r = –0.70** in genetic resources, r = –0.57** in the lys1 parent-derived lines) and malt total protein (r = 0.73**, 0.84**, respectively). For the selection of very high DP lines from the lys1 parent-derived group, high grain HI selection was effective as all the very high DP lines had much harder grain characteristics. Therefore SKCS was regarded as a useful tool for quality selection in malting barley breeding.

Key words:
Diastatic power, grain hardness, Hordeum vulgare, malt quality, SKCS.