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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Cereal Crops Research » Research » Research Project #426086

Research Project: Identifying the Next Generation of Malting Barley Through Improved Selection Criteria and Quality Analysis of Breeding Lines

Location: Cereal Crops Research

Project Number: 5090-43440-006-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated

Start Date: Jun 1, 2015
End Date: May 12, 2020

Objective:
Objective 1. Identify, develop, validate, and implement new measurements of malting quality, especially those relating to protein mobilization during germination, in barley germplasm in order to identify those genotypes showing enhanced malting quality attributes. Objective 2. Apply standard malting quality assessments to germplasm submitted by collaborating public sector barley breeding programs, researchers, and other stakeholder organizations in order to identify new (barley) varieties with suitable malting quality attributes.

Approach:
Surveying populations that have been extensively genotyped and mapped for malting quality will allow us to generate datasets that include process (proteinase activity), phenotype (malting quality), and genotype (>3000 SNP loci) information. Examining a range of barley genetic resources will enable us to use that genetic diversity to identify fundamental processes underlying malting quality. We will use this information to identify new targets and develop additional mechanisms to screen for improved malting barley genotypes. The new screening mechanisms may involve biochemical measurements that we could implement in our malting quality analysis program. Alternatively, the new tests could utilize genetic tools that breeders could incorporate into their own germplasm characterization, simplifying and streamlining their malting quality selection process.