GRAIN QUALITY OF MUTANT LINES INDUCED IN MALTING BARLEY VARIETIES

Abstract

Forty-three mutant lines selected on the base of their high grain yield along with parent varieties Kuber, Zagorets, Asparuh, and Imeon were grown in field trials at the Institute of Agriculture – Karnobat in three consecutive years. Eight physical and chemical characteristics of grain related to the grain quality of malting barley were measured. There was considerable variation among barley mutant lines for all studied traits. Mutant lines with higher extract content, grain uniformity, 1000 grain weight, and lower protein content in grain compared to parent varieties were found. The correlations among traits showed that improvement of extract content of mutant lines was associated with increased grain uniformity, starch content, grain size, and 1000 grain weight and reduced protein content. The results from cluster analysis indicated that mutants originated from the same parent were grouped into different clusters. Therefore, the sodium azide treatment effectively induced diverse types of changes in the grain characteristics.

Keywords

• malt barley
• mutant lines
• grain quality