Genetic Analysis and Molecular Breeding Applications of Malting Quality QTLs in Barley.

Yunxia Fang,Dawei Xue,Xiaoqin Zhang

doi:10.3389/fgene.2019.00352

Abstract

Malting quality is an important determinant of the value of barley grain used in malting and brewing. With recent sequencing and assembling of the barley genome, an increasing number of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and genes related to malting quality have been identified and cloned, which lays a good molecular genetic basis for barley quality improvement. In this review, we describe the following indicators of malting quality: malt extract (ME), diastatic power (DP), kolbach index (KI), wort viscosity (VIS), free amino nitrogen (FAN) content, soluble protein (SP) content, wort β-glucan (WBG) content, and protein content (PC), and have list related QTLs/genes with high phenotypic variation in multiple populations or environments. Meanwhile, the correlations among the quality parameters and parts of significant indicators suitable for improvement are discussed based on nutrient composition and content required for high-quality malt, which will provide reference for molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) of malting quality in barley.

Highlights

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is the fourth largest cereal crop in the world, widely used for livestock feed, food, and industrial utilization (Bond et al, 2015; FAOSTAT1)
Barley is processed into malt and mainly used for brewing and distilling, in which malting quality is an important factor in determining the quality of the manufactured products (Kochevenko et al, 2018)
In order to provide a genetic basis for the breeding of high-quality barley varieties, we focus on the known major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) related to malting quality and systematically analyze the association between the quality traits and the improvement prospects in this paper

Summary

Introduction

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is the fourth largest cereal crop in the world, widely used for livestock feed, food, and industrial utilization (Bond et al, 2015; FAOSTAT1). The identification of QTLs/genes related to amylase activity and its application in breeding is one effective means of improving malting quality.

Results

Conclusion