THE EFFECT OF CULTIVAR MIXTURES ON MALTING QUALITY IN WINTER BARLEY

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Abstract
A range of winter barley cultivars was grown, either as pure stands or as components of mixtures, in a trial in 1995–96. For malting quality characters, mean values of mixtures did not differ from mean values of the appropriate monocultures, except for decreases in homogeneity, as determined by a fluorescence test of cell wall modification. When disease pressure was modified by fungicide, hot water extract was not significantly altered, although this may have been due to the restriction of malting to grain retained by a 2.5 mm sieve. One mixture, comprised of three related winter malting cultivars, gave higher hot water extracts than its components, as pure stands, with no adverse effects on homogeneity. This was not simply attributable to lower grain nitrogen content.