Hull Removal Research Articles

The impact of mechanical scouring and moisture conditioning on the in vitro protein digestibility and quality of roller‑milled green lentil (Lens culinaris) and yellow pea (Pisum sativum)

AbstractBackground and ObjectivesMilling practices, otherwise refined for specific uses in cereal‐based foods, have not been thoroughly developed for pulses. This study investigates whether scouring and moisture conditioning pretreatments on yellow peas and green lentils can enhance hull removal, and in turn, whether changes in hull removal alter in vitro protein digestibility and quality.FindingsTotal by‐product losses were significant in green lentils when subject to scouring, which was altered by high moisture addition in yellow peas. The scouring pretreatment altered both the protein digestibility and amino acid scores of green lentils, which translated to improved protein quality in all streams, but significantly in the break flour stream. Yellow peas similarly demonstrated significant improvements in protein quality from scouring, as a result of altered amino acid scores.ConclusionThe addition of a scouring procedure can improve the protein quality of yellow peas and green lentils.Significance and NoveltyPulse milling procedures are rarely evaluated for optimization of protein quality. This research establishes milling protocols that may be used to enhance the protein quality of yellow peas and green lentils.

Changes in cottonseed meal quality during post-harvest processing of cottonseed

This study investigates aflatoxin contamination levels during the post-harvest processing of whole cottonseed into defatted cottonseed meal, a critical feed component in the dairy industry. Whole fuzzy cottonseed, a byproduct of cotton gins, undergoes various processes to extract oil and produce meal and hulls. These are either used as animal feed or soil amendments. However, aflatoxin contamination poses significant challenges due to strict FDA action levels for dairy and beef cattle feed. This contamination occurs when Aspergillus flavus infects crops under specific environmental conditions or through improper handling during post-harvest processes. Our research aims to document aflatoxin levels during each stage of post-harvest processing, from cleaning to meal formation. Preliminary findings suggest that certain stages may concentrate aflatoxins akin to other agricultural products like dried distillers’ grains and solubles (DDGS). The implications of these findings could be profound for the dairy industry, where low allowable aflatoxin levels impact both economic and animal health outcomes. The cottonseed post-harvest process consists of cleaning, delinting, hull removal, kernel flaking, oil extraction, and meal formation. Understanding how aflatoxin levels change during these steps is crucial for ensuring safe and high-quality defatted cottonseed meal for livestock consumption. Microbial levels increased by 4 orders of magnitude during the acid delinting process, from 7.0× 105 to 5.2 × 109 CFU/g, and 5 orders of magnitude during the mechanical delinting process, from 7.3× 105 to 1.5 × 1010 CFU/g for the inoculated cottonseed samples. Higher microbial load was associated with lower protein levels and lower fat acidity levels. Further research will shed light on the effects of aflatoxin concentration on the nutritional value of the final product.

Harvesting and Threshing Methods for Paddy-II: A Review

Threshing of paddy crop is carried out using manual, animal or mechanized power sources depends on the farmland size. In a thresher, rasp bar, spike tooth, peg tooth and wire-loop type threshing elements can be fitted with the threshing cylinder irrespective of direction of crop feed and flow. Different elements are responsible to thresh the crop with different actions which include impact, rubbing, combing, squeezing and their combination. This review was carried out to explore the effect of different threshing elements and threshing methods on performance of paddy threshing. Unlike threshing of other cereal crops, hull removal is not required in paddy. Selection of threshing elements based on the crop to be threshed. The type of threshing element determines the threshing efficiency, energy requirement and grain loss. Among rasp bar, spike tooth, peg tooth and wire-loop type threshing elements, wire-loop type was found to be most suitable for paddy threshing. Factors like cylinder speed, cylinder type and diameter, concave clearance and throughput rate affect the threshing performance. A low speed of cylinder produces more un-threshed grains. It can be compensated using for axial flow thresher as it has high crop retention period. Contrarily, a high speed is responsible for better threshing efficiency along with the more grain breakage and energy consumption. Using tangential flow thresher crop retention period can be minimized. The work rate of pedal and power thresher was, respectively 2 and 10 times more than that of manual threshing. The average threshing efficiency of pedal thresher, power thresher and combine harvester was reported to be 97 to 99%, 96.30 to 99.75% and 98.5%, respectively.

Soymilk modification by immobilized bacteria in a soft elastic tubular reactor's wall

Soybean products are an important food source, but there are issues related to their nutrition and waste accumulation. We developed an immobilized mixed strains system on agitated flasks and a soft elastic tubular reactor (SETR) to obtain a whole soymilk fermented product (without okara and hull removal). Our findings indicate that the mix of Lactobacillus plantarum/Bacillus subtilis subsp. Natto, immobilized in gellan/xanthan/PU foam mat lining the reactor, resulted in a product with a high protein hydrolysis degree (20%), degradation of the 7 S protein fraction, lower total reducing sugars (>70% reduction) and trypsin inhibitors (>80% reduction), and higher total phenolics (>200% increase). This is associated with lower flatulence, allergenicity, and higher nutrient availability and bioactivity. The SETR mixing profile, combined with the immobilization method used in this work, resulted in a stable continuous process and should be better explored as a bioprocess option for non-traditional media.

Meal nutritional characteristics and oil profile of sprouted, dehulled, and solvent-extracted canola.

Canola meal has limited utilization in feed and food applications because of the presence of antinutritional factors and a high fiber content. Thus, the present study used 3-day canola seed sprouting followed by hull removal to improve the nutritional quality of canola as a feed and food ingredient to further enhance and diversify the canola market. Seed sprouting and the hull removal process resulted in 63.2% sprouts, 29.3% mix fractions (MF) (hulls, ungerminated seed, and delayed sprouts) and 8.1% mass loss during sprouting. Fresh sprouts and MF were dried, ground and defatted to compare the obtained meals and oils with their counterparts of raw seed. Defatted sprouts (DFSP) resulted in a 46.2% reduction in crude fiber, a 34.3% reduction in acid detergent fiber and a 43.4% reduction in neutral detergent fiber compared to defatted raw seed (DFSE). DFSP provided a 10.1% higher protein content and a 5.9% increase in total amino acid content with higher essential amino acids compared to DFSE. Total carbohydrate was lowered by 5.5%, phytic acid content was lowered by 25.9%, and ash content was lowered by 5.5% in DFSP, whereas total glucosinolate content was higher in DFSP (13.1 μmol g-1 ) than in DFSE (8.8 μmol g-1 ). Sprouts and MF showed an oil content of 38.4% and 9.6%, respectively, compared to raw seed (34.5%). Sprouting and hull removal of canola seed can potentially provide nutritive meal for food and feed applications. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Fat content and fatty acid profiles of recently registered varieties of naked and hulled oats with and without husks

The dietary fibre and lipid content of grains is variable. Hence, it is important to estimate the nutritional quality of grains destined for human and animal consumption. We investigated the lipid content and fatty acid composition of new hulled oat cultivars before and after dehulling, and naked varieties. The fat content varied from 2.6 g/100 g (yellow hulled; Kertag) to 5.2 g/100 g (naked; Kamil). The predominant fatty acids were linoleic (36.03–41.16%) and oleic (27.8–37.1%). The naked and dehulled cultivars contained more crude fat than the hulled cultivars with husks. The hull removal also changed the fatty acid profile of hulled oat samples. These dehulled samples also differed from naked oat varieties. The naked Kamil variety had the highest content of monounsaturated fatty acids (38.61 ± 0.36). The dehulled Cavaliere variety had the highest polyunsaturated fatty acids content (47.67 ± 0.62). All cultivars displayed very low atherogenicity (0.25–0.30) and thrombogenicity (0.43–0.55) indices. The results of this study underscore the dietetic importance of new oat cultivars for human and animal consumption.

Performance Evaluation Of Ncam Dry Beans Dehulling Machine

Beans are from the families of legumes which are rich in protein. It has possibility of alleviating poverty and undernutrition amongst the lower-class families, because every part of cowpea is useful. The traditional method of dehulling beans (soaking in water to ease hull removal) are time consuming, hazardous and associated with lots of drudgery. This report presents the performance evaluation of NCAM developed dried beans dehulling machine. Thirty-six (36) kilogram of beans with 9.2% moisture content was used for the evaluation in which the feed regulator opening was varied. From the result obtained, it showed that the wider the feed opening, the higher the dehulling rate and the dehulling efficiency. The average capacity of the machine is 771 kg/hr.

Combining alternative processing methods for European soybeans to be used in broiler diets

Locally produced, expeller soybean meal (SBM) may be an important constituent of European broiler diets in the future. In the present trial 4 SBMs were produced from European grown soybeans, using different processing methods; this is the first time that the combination of these methods has been applied. Starter (d0–14) and grower (d15–28) diets were offered to 288 Ross 308 male broilers in a 2 × 2 design: 2 processing methods ((Extrusion-pressing (E) vs Flaking-pressing-cooking (F)) × 2 hulling methods ((with hulls (H) vs no hulls (NH)). Variables measured consisted of average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), feed conversion ratio, apparent ileal dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) digestibility, jejunal histomorphometry at d14 and d28 and ileal digesta viscosity at d28 of age. In addition, carcass and carcass part yield, organ weight, and empty gastrointestinal tract weight and length per small intestinal segment were assessed at d28. Processing method did not affect any of the variables tested. On the other hand, hull presence increased (P < 0.05) ADFI over the starter period, but not over the grower period. Presence of hulls increased proventriculus, gizzard and jejunum weight, and reduced carcass yield at d28 of age, likely due to the higher fibre content. Method of processing and hulling significantly interacted (P < 0.05) for ADFI and ADG at the end of the starter period, being highest for the E/H treatment, but overall broiler performance was similar between dietary treatments. Similarly, small intestinal architecture and DM and CP digestibility were not affected by dietary treatments at either d14 or d28 post hatch. Although there was some variation in soybean protein solubility and trypsin inhibitors amongst SBM products these factors did not appear to affect any of the measured variables. In conclusion, all 4 methods of production resulted in comparable results in relation to performance variables. Hull removal did not confer a significant advantage, aside from increased carcass yield, possibly due to the adaptive growth of the gizzard and proventriculus.

The sunflower oil and the sunflower meal in animal nutrition

The sunflower plant (Helianthus annuus) is an annual herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family. It is grown primarily for its seeds, the sunflower oil and the sunflower meal obtained from it, but also as an ornamental plant, as feed and as fuel. The sunflower seed is comprised from the husk on the outside and the kernel on the inside, whereas depending on the oil content it is categorised in two varieties, one with low oil content (average 25%) and another with high oil content (40% - 51%). The sunflower oil is high in unsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E and plant sterols and low in saturated fatty acids. The fatty acids composition of the sunflower oil depends mainly on the variety of the sunflower seeds and thus the sunflower oil is categorised in linoleic sunflower oil or classic (with high polyunsaturated fatty acids content), oleic sunflower oil or High-oleic (with a high monounsaturated fatty acids content) and middle oleic sunflower oil or NuSun (with an intermediate oleic acid content). It is marketed as raw oil or refined oil. The sunflower oil is added to the rations of farm animals in order to increase their energy content and to meet their essential fatty acids needs. Nowadays, many researchers study its effect on the composition of milk, meat and eggs produced from farm animals, in order to obtain characteristics more desirable for the human consumers, such as higher concentration of unsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, as well as higher concentration of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). The sunflower meal is the main byproduct of the sunflower seeds after oil extraction. Sunflower meal may differ in color and texture, as well as in their chemical composition, depending on the variety of the sunflower, the degree of hull removal and the method of treatment. The crude fiber content varies from 12% to 32%, the crude protein from 24% to 44% and the ether extract from 1% to 10%. It also contains a significant amount of vitamins and non-starch polysaccharides. The sunflower oil and the sunflower meal can be used in the nutrition of both monogastric animals and ruminants.

De-hulling facilitates seed germination and ethylene production in dormant and non-dormant rice genotypes

SUMMARYThe hull or husk of rice, comprising the lemma and palea, provides a fitting enclosure for the caryopsis. The physiological significance of the hull in seed dormancy has been examined by comparing the effects of its removal on germination, seed vigour, assimilate mobilization and ethylene production in germinating seeds of six rice genotypes; two each belonging to dormant, semi-dormant and non-dormant groups. Hull removal promoted the above parameters in all three categories of seeds, but the effect was relatively higher in dormant seeds compared with less dormant categories. Ethylene production in non-dormant seeds was initiated after imbibition of water, normally before visible emergence of the radicle. It peaked when the radicle began to protrude and declined thereafter. In comparison, dormant seeds produced very low levels of ethylene during germination; however, hull removal resulted in a dramatic rise in its production. Overall, ethylene evolution at the radicle protrusion stage correlated negatively with germination time. It was concluded that ethylene production starts with breaking of the caryopsis coat and peaks when the radicle ruptures it completely, at the stage of radicle visible emergence. Removal of the hull facilitates germination and ethylene production can be a good indicator for the progress of germination.

Seed dormancy and dormancy‐breaking methods in Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel. (Poaceae)

AbstractLeymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel. is a perennial grass with high productivity and forage value; however, poor stand establishment, often due to seed dormancy, limits its widespread use for forage production. To investigate the mechanism of seed dormancy and to develop effective methods of improving germination, the contribution of each part of the caryopsis to dormancy was investigated, and a number of single or combined dormancy‐breaking pre‐treatments were conducted using three seed lots. The palea, lemma, pericarp/testa, and endosperm all contributed to seed dormancy. The contribution of each part to dormancy was 23·4%, lemma; 6·2%, palea; 28·4%, pericarp/testa; and 42·0%, endosperm. Hull (palea and lemma) removal, pericarp/testa piercing, and soaking in distilled water or 30% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) significantly decreased the percentage of dormant seeds (i.e. increased germination). Treating hull‐removed and pericarp/testa‐pierced seeds with gibberellic acid (GA3) also significantly decreased the percentage of dormant seeds. Compared with each of the single pre‐treatments, the combined pre‐treatment of pre‐soaking in water for 1 d, then 30% NaOH for 60 min and treating with 300 μm GA3 resulted in the highest germination (89%); and seed viability was 91%.

Nutrient accumulation curves in fruits and nutrient export by seeds and hulls harvesting of physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.)

There is little information on the nutritional management of physic nut ( Jatropha curcas L . ). This study aimed to measure the nutrients accumulation during the growth of fruits in physic nut and the nutrients export from the area due to seed harvest and hull removal. Fruits were harvested at different times (11, 19, 27, 35, 43, 51, and 59 days after anthesis), in a completely randomized design with four replications. Nutrient content was measured in the whole fruit and in the hull and seed separately. Nutrients accumulate in the fruit during its growth. Nitrogen is the nutrient accumulated in the greatest amount, followed by potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and sulfur. For the micronutrients, their content decreased in order of: zinc, manganese, copper, and iron. There was a high demand for Ca, Mg, Cu, Zn, and Mn in the early fruit development. The physic nut fruit requires significant amounts of micronutrients for normal fruit growth. Potassium is the nutrient exported in the greatest amount through a hull.

Decommissioning cost estimation for deepwater floating structures in the US Gulf of Mexico

Floating structures are expensive to fabricate and install, and, at the end of their useful life, will also be expensive to decommission. Industry experience decommissioning deepwater structures in the Gulf of Mexico is extremely limited, and to date, only four floating platforms in water deeper than 1000 ft have been removed from service. The purpose of this paper is to apply work decomposition algorithms developed by ProServ Offshore to estimate the cost for well plugging and abandonment, pipeline decommissioning, umbilical and flowline removal, and deck and hull removal for the 42 floating structures that reside in the Gulf of Mexico circa 2013. Mars is expected to have the largest decommissioning exposure at $336 million, followed by Ursa ($222 million), Auger ($205 million), and Hoover/Diana ($201 million). Nineteen structures are expected to have decommissioning cost exceeding $100 million. Total undiscounted decommissioning cost for the 2013 floater inventory is estimated at $4.3 billion. Deepwater decommissioning cost estimates will change with changing technologies, regulations and market conditions.

Moisture-Dependent Color Characteristics of Walnuts

Characterizing the shell color of walnuts based on their moisture content at harvest can provide valuable information for performing walnut sorting before drying. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the color characteristics of the shell of walnuts and their moisture content. Measurements were carried out for three walnut varieties, Tulare, Howard, and Chandler. The walnuts were sorted into two categories, namely with and without hulls at harvest. The Commission International de l'Esclairage's L*, a*, and b* color indices were measured to quantify the shell color after hull removal, and total color difference, hue angle (h*), and chroma (C*) values were calculated. The results indicated that the moisture content of walnuts with hulls at harvest was much higher than that of walnuts without hulls. The L* and ΔE values are highly correlated with moisture content and had different trends for walnuts with and without hulls. There was no clear relationship between other color characteristics and moisture content, although the a* values of walnuts with hulls were higher than those of walnuts without hulls. The results obtained revealed the potential of using the relationship between color indices of L* or ΔE and walnut shell moisture content to sort walnuts before drying, which is essential to avoid over-drying, increase drying capacity, reduce energy use, and obtain high quality walnut products.

Postharvest operations of pistachio nuts.

The most important postharvest operations of pistachio nuts including handling, transportation, green hull removal, dehydration, bulk storage and packaging of pistachios were studied. Results showed that air temperature had pronounced effect on drying time and air velocity didn't any significant effect on drying time. The entire drying process occurred in falling rate period and constant rate period was not observed. The optimum conditions for bulk storage of pistachio nuts were between 0 and 10°C and relative humidity (RH) of 65-70% or kept at higher than 10°C (e.g. 15°C) and less than 32% RH, and monolayer moisture content had the longest shelf life due to the minimum changes in its lipid quality factors. The higher temperatures and longer storage times will accelerated deteriorative reactions in pistachio nuts especially on fat component and nylon under vacuum is the best packages for pistachio nuts among other packaging materials were studied in this research.

Barley Cultivar, Kernel Composition, and Processing Affect the Glycemic Index1–3

Barley has a low glycemic index (GI), but it is unknown whether its GI is affected by variation in carbohydrate composition in different cultivars and by food processing and food form. To examine the effect of these factors on GI, 9 barley cultivars varying in amylose and β-glucan content were studied in 3 experiments in separate groups of 10 healthy participants. In Expt. 1, 3 barley cultivars underwent 2 levels of processing: hull removal [whole-grain (WG)] and bran, germ, and crease removal [white pearled (WP)]. GI varied by cultivar (CDC Fibar vs. AC Parkhill, [mean ± SEM]: 26 ± 3 vs. 53 ± 4, respectively; P < 0.05) and pearling (WG vs. WP: 26 ± 4 vs. 35 ± 3, respectively; P < 0.05) with no cultivar × pearling interaction. In Expt. 2, the GI of 7 WG cultivars ranged from 21 ± 4 to 36 ± 8 (P = 0.09). In Expt. 3, WG and WP AC Parkhill and Celebrity cultivars were ground and made into wet pasta. The GI of AC Parkhill pasta (69 ± 3) was similar to that of Celebrity pasta (64 ± 4) but, unlike in Expt. 1, the GI of WP pasta (61 ± 3) was less than that of WG pasta (72 ± 4) (P < 0.05). Pooled data from Expts. 1 and 2 showed that GI was correlated with total fiber (r = -0.75, P = 0.002) but not with measures of starch characteristics. We conclude that the GI of barley is influenced by cultivar, processing, and food form but is not predicted by its content of amylose or other starch characteristics.

Influence of Cultivar, Processing, and Food Form on the Glycemic Index of Barley

Replacement of refined high glycemic index (GI) carbohydrates by whole grain products such as barley may prevent the progression of cardio‐metabolic disorders due to their favourable effects on glycemia. However, processing, cultivar variation, physiochemical properties and food form may alter their impact on glycemia. To examine these factors on the GI of barley, 3 experiments were performed in separate groups of 10 healthy subjects. GI was determined using standard methodology and in vitro starch digestibility was measured. Cultivars varied in starch and β‐glucan content. In Experiments 1 and 2 cultivars were processed into four fractions ranging from hull removal only to hull, bran, germ, and crease removal. Experiment 3, a wet pasta‐like product was made from 100% barley flour with wet semolina pasta as a control. In experiments 1 and 2 the GI range was (22.8 – 40.9); processing increased the GI significantly (p&gt;0.05). Cultivars differed in their nutrient composition (p = 0.024), but without significant interaction between pearling and cultivars (p&gt;0.05). Regardless of the cultivar, the least processed kernels had significantly lower total starch and higher total low molecular sugars, insoluble and total fiber. Resistant starch (RS) was inversely correlated with the GI (r = −0.58; p&lt; 0.05). The barley pasta had medium‐high GI values similar to semolina pasta. Results suggest that processing affects the GI and the physiochemical properties. These results will improve knowledge in the development of low‐GI functional foods and improve future consumer guidelines. Financial support from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture.

Progressive Hull Removal from Barley using the Fitzpatrick Comminuting Mill

The objective of the study was to explore the use of the Fitzpatrick Comminuting Machine (FitzMill®) to remove the hull from hulled barley while keeping the barley kernel intact, thereby avoiding starch loss. Traditionally, this mill is used to grind material, but we have discovered that it can precisely shear the hull from the kernels using the sharp end of the blades. Different residence times in the mill were compared, and chemical analysis of hull and de-hulled kernel fractions, as well as rates of progressive hull removal, were studied to determine optimal settings. While whole kernels had only about 60% starch content, de-hulled barley kernel fractions had starch contents of over 71%, which are comparable to high-starch grains, such as corn, which are more efficient for fuel ethanol production. Furthermore, corresponding hull fractions contained less than 6% starch which translates to less than 1.5% starch loss from the original kernel. De-hulling will make a significant improvement to the barley's value as a feedstock for fuel ethanol production, increasing the starch content by 11 percentage points, and simultaneously decreasing non-fermentable fractions by a similar level. With a method to fractionate hulled barley into high-starch fractions (de-hulled kernels) and fiber rich hulls, hulled barley becomes a more desirable feedstock for fuel ethanol production. Also, since hulls would be removed prior to ethanol production they would be available for conversion into other valuable coproducts.

Metabolizable energy and amino acid digestibility of decorticated extruded safflower meal

An experiment was conducted to determine TME and amino acid digestibility of several dehulled extruded safflower meals. Finely ground partially dehulled extruded (ESM), partially dehulled solvent-extracted (SESM), extensively cleaned dehulled and extruded safflower meal (CSM), or soybean meal 44 (SBM 44) was intubated to 9 fasted mature roosters with 40 g per rooster and total excreta was collected.The concentrations of all essential amino acids in CSM were higher than those in ESM and SESM. Also, compared with SBM 44, CSM was deficient in lysine, slightly higher in TSAA and tryptophan, but much higher in arginine. The AME(n) and TME(n) of CSM were 2,413 and 2,832 kcal/kg, respectively, and were higher than those of SBM 44 (P < 0.01). The true lysine digestibilities of CSM and SBM 44 were similar but were higher than those of ESM and SESM (P < 0.05). However, ESM, SESM, and CSM had similar true tryptophan and threonine digestibilities that were lower than that of SBM 44 (P < 0.05). With respect to TSAA, all feed ingredients under investigation had similar apparent and true digestibilities. In conclusion, extensive hull removal of safflower seeds followed by cold extrusion produced a low-fiber CSM rich in both energy and protein that makes it a promising feed ingredient for poultry.

Differences in Carbohydrate Composition and Digestion In Vitro of Selected Barley Cultivars as Influenced by Pearling and Cooking

ABSTRACTAmong common cereals, barley is a low glycemic index food. In an attempt to better understand this character, the nutritional properties of glycemic carbohydrates and dietary fiber concentrations of nine cultivars were evaluated. The cultivars were selected based on botanical variations and commercial value to investigate the impact of pearling and cooking on nutritional properties. Each cultivar was pearled into four fractions ranging from hull removal only to hull, bran, germ, and crease removal. The study showed that botanical class and degree of pearling significantly affect the carbohydrate composition and digestion indices of barley. Waxy starch cultivars had less total starch and more rapidly digestible starch (RDS), rapidly available glucose (RAG), and β‐glucan than the other nonwaxy cultivars. Regardless of the barley type, the less pearled kernels had significantly lower total starch and higher total low molecular weight sugars, insoluble, and total fiber. However, β‐glucan content was fairly comparable in the whole grain and pearled fractions. Cooking had a significant effect on nutritional properties of Celebrity and AC Klinck cultivars. The only consistent significant difference between raw and cooked barley was resistant starch (RS), which increased after cooking regardless of cultivar or fraction. The study showed that barley cultivar and carbohydrate composition significantly affected starch digestion with some cultivar fractions holding a promise for the development of low glycemic index foods.