Abstract
Hordein proteins, extracted from 62 Canadian-grown two- and six-rowed barley cultivars and six American-grown six-rowed barley cultivars, were separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at acid pH. Band mobilities were shown to be reproducible within ± 0.005 relative mobility units. Hordein electrophoregram formulae were determined and catalogued for the 68 barley cultivars analyzed. Twenty-five of the cultivars produced unique electrophoregram formulae. The remaining 43 cultivars were divided into 17 groups, each containing between two and eight indistinguishable cultivars. Further analysis of electrophoregram formulae for Canadian-grown barley cultivars revealed that the majority of malting barley cultivars were distinguishable from feed barley cultivars. The usefulness of the acidic PAGE procedure for the identification of Canadian-grown barley cultivars is evaluated.