Abstract
Cultivation of malting barley is particularly challenging as the requirements of growers, for high yield, and that of the brewing industry, seeking a specific quality criteria, must be met simultaneously. Furthermore, significant genotypic and environmental variations in grain yield and quality properties may occur. To investigate the relationships between grain yield and quality parameters of spring malting barley, a 2-year experiment was carried out in order to characterise the genotypic and year effects on grain yield, quality properties, and yield components of 23 high-yielding varieties of spring malting barley under optimal nitrogen (N) fertilisation. Compared to the grain quality properties of the grain protein content and the grain retention fraction of grain size >2.5 mm, less genotypic and environmental variation in grain yield was observed. Grain yield was closely related to spikes per m2, suggesting the importance of tiller formation and establishment as a decisive factor influencing malting barley yields. A major interactive effect of genotypes and year on grain size was observed. Regarding weather effects, the global radiation intensity during the post-anthesis phase was the major factor affecting the final grain size in this study. Grain protein content was primarily dependent on the year effect, suggesting that optimal N fertilisation levels must vary between years to ensure the correct protein content required for the needs of the brewing industry is met. Therefore, we recommend further development strategies addressing N fertilisation and soil N mineralisation to optimise the production of spring malting barley.
Highlights
Accepted: 5 June 2021Barley is unique among crop plants and is of tremendous importance to agriculture; it is the fourth most important cereal crop in the world, after maize, rice, and wheat [1], and in Europe, approximately 12 million ha are cultivated with barley [2]
The results from the present study demonstrate that there was a strong relationship between grain number m−2 and spikes m−2, while a poor correlation was found between grains m−2 and grain spike−1 (Tables 5 and 6), which was more similar to the behavior of wheat genotypic variation in a West European climate
The 23 spring barley genotypes were registered in different time periods and regions (Table 1), this study surprisingly showed no significant genotypic variation in grain yield (Tables 3 and 4)
Summary
Accepted: 5 June 2021Barley is unique among crop plants and is of tremendous importance to agriculture; it is the fourth most important cereal crop in the world, after maize, rice, and wheat [1], and in Europe, approximately 12 million ha are cultivated with barley [2]. In the form of malt, is a perfect nutritional source of yeast, which is very important for the brewing industry. In Germany in 2020, approximately 75% of the harvested spring barley grain was delivered as malting barley [3]. In addition to achieving high yields, specific quality criteria for malting barley must be met to optimise industrial processes; barley grains are considered suitable for the malting and brewing industry if they have a protein content between 9.5% and 11.5% of dry weight, and if more than 90% of the harvested grains (i.e., the grain retention fraction) are larger than 2.5 mm [4]. To meet the malt quality requirements, grain yield and quality parameters of malting barley must be balanced. Molina-Cano et al [6], based on 11 studies, showed contradictory
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
