Cultivar and Environmental Variation of β-glucan Content in Chinese Barleys

β-glucan is a polysaccharide compound closely related to the quality of barley used as malting,feed and food. Low β-glucan content is expected for brewing and feed barley, while high β-glucan content is desirable for food barley. The β-glucan content of barley genotypes collected from various areas of China as well as from Canada and Australia were assayed. Meanwhile a multi-locations trial was conducted to determineβ-glucan content of 10 barley cultivars in 8 locations for two successive planting years. The results showed that barley genotypes from Tibet and Xinjiang had higher β-glucan content and the genotypes with higher than 8%of β-glucan content were detected in Tibet barleys, being valuable for use in the development of healthy food.Barley cultivars being planted now in winter-sowing areas of China had basically the same β-glucan content as those from Canada and Australia. Barley seeds produced in Hangzhou had lower β-glucan content than seeds from the original areas. There was a highly significant difference in β-glucan content among 10 barleys, 8locations and between years. On an average of two years, Xiumei 3 and Kongpei 1 had the highest and lowestβ-glucan content, respectively, and Taian and Hangzhou produced the highest and lowest β-glucan content barley seeds, respectively. Analysis of AMMI model showed that interaction effect between cultivar and environment was highly significant in both experimental years, and was dependent on cuitivar, suggesting that it is important to plant the suitable cultivars in a particular area in order to obtain barley seeds with reasonableβ-glucan content.

Cultivar and Environmental Variation of β-glucan Content in Chinese Barleys

β-glucan is a polysaccharide compound closely related to the quality of barley used as malting,feed and food. Low β-glucan content is expected for brewing and feed barley, while high β-glucan content is desirable for food barley. The β-glucan content of barley genotypes collected from various areas of China as well as from Canada and Australia were assayed. Meanwhile a multi-locations trial was conducted to determineβ-glucan content of 10 barley cultivars in 8 locations for two successive planting years. The results showed that barley genotypes from Tibet and Xinjiang had higher β-glucan content and the genotypes with higher than 8%of β-glucan content were detected in Tibet barleys, being valuable for use in the development of healthy food.Barley cultivars being planted now in winter-sowing areas of China had basically the same β-glucan content as those from Canada and Australia. Barley seeds produced in Hangzhou had lower β-glucan content than seeds from the original areas. There was a highly significant difference in β-glucan content among 10 barleys, 8locations and between years. On an average of two years, Xiumei 3 and Kongpei 1 had the highest and lowestβ-glucan content, respectively, and Taian and Hangzhou produced the highest and lowest β-glucan content barley seeds, respectively. Analysis of AMMI model showed that interaction effect between cultivar and environment was highly significant in both experimental years, and was dependent on cuitivar, suggesting that it is important to plant the suitable cultivars in a particular area in order to obtain barley seeds with reasonableβ-glucan content.