The potential improvements of naked barley pretreatments on GABA, β-glucan, and antioxidant properties

Abstract

Naked barley is a low-use crop that contains noteworthy amounts of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and β-glucan. This work aimed to enhance the GABA, total phenolic compounds (TPC), and antioxidant properties with a satisfying amount of β-glucans. Different pretreatments were used to accomplish this aim: soaking, germination, fermentation, germination prior to fermentation, and fermentation prior to germination. All pretreatments enhanced the quality of Naked barley and significantly increased the quantity of GABA. However, germinated barley (GB) and germinated-then-fermented barley (GFB) achieved a noticeable increase in GABA contents of 11.9 and 10.3 mg/100 g, respectively, and maintained the highest possible level of β-glucan (5.41 and 5.66%, respectively) along with improving the antioxidant properties and TPC content. Results indicate that germination and germination prior to fermentation successfully enhanced GABA, antioxidant, phenolic compounds, and β-glucan, which suggests that GB and GFB could be utilized further as a valuable source of functional components in the industrial field.