No abstract

The northwards expansion of barley production requires adaptation to longer days, lower temperatures and stronger winds during the growing season. We have screened 169 lines of the current barley breeding gene pool in the Nordic region with regards to heading, maturity, height, and lodging under different environmental conditions in nineteen field trials over 3 years at eight locations in northern and central Europe. Through a genome-wide association scan we have linked phenotypic differences observed in multi-environment field trials (MET) to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). We have identified an allele combination, only occurring among a few Icelandic lines, that affects heat sum to maturity and requires 214 growing degree days (GDD) less heat sum to maturity than the most common allele combination in the Nordic spring barley gene pool. This allele combination is beneficial in a cold environment, where autumn frost can destroy a late maturing harvest. Despite decades of intense breeding efforts relying heavily on the same germplasm, our results show that there still exists considerable variation within the current breeding gene pool and we identify ideal allele combinations for regional adaptation, which can facilitate the expansion of cereal cultivation even further northwards.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of D, C, and B hordein polypeptides on malting quality of 19 spring barley (Hordeurn vulgare L.) cultivars. Results from the study indicated that B hordein polypeptide combinations had some effect on malting quality through regulating diastatic power. Comparison of the relative amounts of hordein extracted in the presence and absence of reducing agent was made to determine the effect of disulphide bonds on malting quality. In the absence of reducing agent in the extraction solvent, a high concentration of B hordein was correlated with an increase in extract yield. Conversely, in the presence of reducing agent, an increase in B hordein concentration increased the Kolbach Index. A higher D hordein to B hordein ratio, when the former contained a high concentration of disulphide bonds, decreased malting quality to a greater extent than when fewer disulphide bonds were present. When environmental conditions favoured high N uptake efficiency, a larger proportion of D hordein disulphide bonds was synthesized, leading to decreased malting quality. It is speculated that cultivars with lower grain N yield and a lower D:B ratio yield good quality malt.

must be based on adequate knowledge of their population genetic parameters, especially gene flow between Genetic engineering is becoming a useful tool in the improvement different populations in cultivation. of plants and plant-based raw materials. Varieties with value-added traits are developed for nonfood use in industrial and medical produc-The first transgenic barley plants were produced by tion, and different production lines must be kept separate. For good particle bombardment (Hagio et al., 1995; Jä hne et al., management practices, knowledge of relevant gene flow parameters 1994;Wan and Lemaux, 1994). Later is required. In the present study, pollen-mediated dispersal of transon other techniques have also resulted in transgenic genes via cross-fertilization was examined. A transgenic barley (Horbarley plants (Funatsuki et al., 1995; Matthews et al., deum vulgare L.) line carrying a marker gene coding for neomycin 1997; Nobre et al., 2000; Salmenkallio-Marttila et al., phosphotransferase II (nptII ) was used as a pollen donor. For maxi-1995; Tingay et al., 1997; Zhang et al., 1999). The most mum resolution, a cytoplasmically male-sterile barley line was utilized reproducible gene transfer method in barley has been as recipient and the flow of nptII transgene was monitored at distances the bombardment of embryos of the variety Golden of 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 25, 50, and 100 m from the donor plots of 225 and Promise (Wan and Lemaux, 1994). The majority of gene 2000 m 2 . Male-fertile plots at a distance of 1 m were included to measure the transgene flow in normal barley. The number of seeds transfers aiming at commercial applications have been obtained from male-sterile heads diminished rapidly with distance carried out by this method (e.g., Jensen et al., 1996; and only a few seeds were found at distances of 50 and 100 m. Molecu-Nuutila et al., 1999). lar genetic analysis (polymerase chain reaction-PCR) revealed that When varieties with novel traits are being developed, all seeds obtained from male-sterile heads at a distance of 1 m were safety questions should also be considered. In the retransgenic, as anticipated. However, only 3% of the distant seeds lease of transgenic plants, the effect of the gene is of (50 m) actually carried the transgene, whereas most of them resulted prime importance, not the way in which it was introfrom fertilization with nontransgenic background pollen. This backduced into the genome (EUCARPIA, 1989). The safety ground pollen was mainly due to pollen leakage in some male-sterile assessment should cover the whole chain from research heads. In normal male-fertile barley, the cross-fertilization frequency and production of transgenic plants to cultivation, pro-A. Ritala, A.M. Nuutila and V. Kauppinen, VTT Biotechnology, P.O. uted to the evolution of new cultivated plant species,

Forty one samples of the malting barley cultivar Scarlett were collected from both Scandinavia (15 from Finland and 10 from Denmark) and the Iberian Peninsula (15 from Spain and 1 from Portugal), during the harvest years of 1998 and 1999. These samples were subjected to grain analyses, comprising protein content, hordein fractions by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and b-glucan content. The samples were micro-malted and the malts were analysed to determine different patterns in the influence of grain composition on malt extract development linked to the two contrasting environments. The most obvious difference found between the Scandinavian and Iberian barleys was the effect of the total and insoluble barley bglucans. They were an effective barrier of malt extract in the North, but appeared to increase extract in the South. A conclusion was that the positive effect of b-glucans in the Iberian barleys was a consequence of their greater capacity to synthesise and release b-glucan hydrolases during germination.Key words: Barley, b-glucans, malting quality. -2863(9'8-32The environmentally induced differences in barley and malt composition observed between samples from such contrasting regions of Northern and Southern Europe as NE Spain and E Scotland, have been analysed for different characteristics and barley genotypes 2,[8][9][10]17,18 . These studies addressed different aspects, but had a common disadvantage in attempting to analyse genotypic differences when the environmental effects were considerably greater 2,9,16 . In an early study by Molina-Cano and coworkers a pair of near-isogenic barley lines were used, and the data for both genotypes showed a positive effect of the B/C hordein ratio and the water-soluble fraction of b-glucans on water uptake during steeping 9 . Additionally, the capacity of the Spanish barleys to give equivalent extracts to their Scottish counterparts, despite higher levels of protein and b-glucans, was attributed to their different hordein composition and their greater ability to produce bglucanases during germination 2 .Subsequent studies focused on comparing environments, using barleys from the North and South of Europe 8 . However, when samples of the variety Alexis grown both in Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula were analysed, B-hordeins showed a strong negative effect along with barley protein content on the extract development of the Nordic (Scandinavian) samples 8 . In an attempt to clarify these apparently inconsistent results, we have studied the malting behaviour of the barley variety Scarlett, presently widely accepted by the brewing industry and successfully grown in many European regions. 1%8)6-%07 %2( 1)8,3(7 &EVPI] QEXIVMEPForty one samples of the malting barley variety Scarlett were collected in Scandinavia (25 samples) and the Iberian Peninsula (16 samples) in 1998 and 1999 (Table I). The Scandinavian samples were from Denmark (10 samples) and Finland (15 samples) and those of the Iberian Peninsula were from Spain (14 samples) and Portugal (1 sample)....