Physicochemical Properties of Pearled Hull-less Barley Cultivars with Normal and Low Amylose Content

Five different hull-less barley cultivars of Korea, including normal and low amylose content, were examined both from a chemical and physical perspective. The barley cultivars showed a large variation in whiteness (28.8-39.2), fat (0.69-1.28%), ash (0.77-1.12%), protein (10.1-12.1%), beta-glucan (5.2-8.4%), starch (59.9-68.9%), and amylose (5.3-22.7%) contents. Amylose content was positively correlated with starch content (r=0.723) and negatively correlated with beta-glucan (r=-0.959), ash (r=-0.796), and fat (r=-0.682) content. Among the chemical components of barley, amylose and beta-glucan contents are the most important factors influencing physical properties. Amylose content was related with hardness (r=0.855), adhesiveness (r=-0.642), initial pasting temperature (r=0.924), and setback viscosity (r=0.835). beta-Glucan content was related with water absorption (r=0.581), hardness (r=-0.767), initial pasting temperature (r=-0.947), and final viscosity (r=-0.909). Hardness was highly correlated with setback (r=0.925) and adhesiveness was correlated with final viscosity (r=0.866). The results obtained in this study indicate that there are interesting correlations between chemical composition and physical characteristics of barley cultivars and could be used to predict the physicochemical properties of barley based food products.