Measurement of barley grain rheology for the quality selection of breeding material

The Single-Kernel Characterization System (SKCS) 4100 was used to test whole grain barley from a replicated breeding trial across two environments and two seasons. Hardness was calculated from a crush response profile of the resistance to shell and endosperm crushing as a function of time. This rheological data recovered was averaged over 300 grains for each sample then partitioned into genetic, environmental and error components in order to calculate the genetic components and heritability. The results demonstrated a high level of genetic variance for all rheological parameters at all sites and years. In addition, the heritability was also moderate to high (68% to 90%) for the SKCS hardness and the rheological parameters that had been previously shown to provide information about endosperm modification during malting. Since the rheological information is recovered for individual grains within a sample, the SKCS 4100 may provide a new tool for screening breeding material for uniformity of quality.