Study of Water Uptake in Whole Grain Barley by Two-Dimensional Correlation Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

This study reports the use of near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy combined with two-dimensional correlation (2D-COS) spectroscopy to monitor the effect of soaking and water uptake by the barley endosperm (Hordeum vulgare, L). The synchronous 2D-COS maps derived from the NIR spectra of barley endosperm showed similarities that could be explained by the regions in the spectra associated with water as well as with the biochemical and biophysical changes as a consequence of the water uptake by the grain. The results also demonstrated the potential of 2D-COS combined with NIR spectroscopy as an analytical tool to study changes in the biophysical characteristics of whole barley during steeping or soaking. This method can be used to obtain information about the effect of water uptake in other chemical characteristics of the endosperm of cereal grains.