A NEW MALTING INDEX - PREDICTION OF MALTING QUALITY BY ENDOSPERM HYDRATION

The hydration of barley samples, representing all nine NIAB malting grades, has been measured by determining the levels of a tracer ion using x-ray analysis with a scanning electron microscope. There was a linear relationship between hydration of the ventral endosperm and NIAB malting grade. This relationship was not affected by the total nitrogen level of the barley and can be used as a novel malting index to successfully predict the malting quality of barley on sample sizes too small for micromalting.