Barley grain as a source of health-beneficial substances

Abstract

Barley is an excellent source of non-starch polysaccharides, i.e. soluble fiber (ß-glucans and arabinoxylans), it contains many important vitamins (vitamin E and vitamin B-complcx) and enzymes (superoxide dismutasc, catalase). A set of the malting varieties and a line KM 1057 had statistically significantly higher content of arabinoxylans (4.40-5.58%) compared to the other KM lines (CZ origin) and the variety Merlin (Canada origin) (3.51-3.64%). Content of ß-glucans in grain of varieties/lines was in a reverse order. The variety Merlin and lines KM (4.10-6.08%) had higher ß-glucan content compared to the malting varieties and lines KM 1057 (2.78-4.02%). In the studied set of varieties/lines, strong negative correlation (r = -0.78**) between content of ß-glucans and arabinoxylans was determined.