Plant & Animal Genome VI Conference

P99

DETECTION OF NEW BETA-AMYLASE ALLELES FROM WILD BARLEY (Hordeum spontaneum) FOR USE IN ENZYME MALTING BARLEY BREEDING

Agricultural Research Centre of Finland, Institute of Crop and Soil Science, Plant Breeding Section, FIN-31600 Jokioinen, Finland and International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, IPGRI, Rome, Italy

Beta-amylase (1,4-alpha-D-glucanmaltohydrolase) is one of the key enzymes in the complete degradation of starch to metabolisable sugars during the germination or malting of barley and other cereal seeds. The aim of this study is to search for new beta-amylase alleles in wild barley accessions from the Near East Fertile Crescent to increase beta-amylase activity level in the Finnish enzyme malting barley breeding. The 50 wild barley genotypes were crossed to the Finnish six row malting barley cultivar "Pokko", backcrossed and selfed four times. For each selfing progenies selection were done by Pokko's phenotype and non-shattering spikes. RFLP analyses showed wide polymorphism for beta-amylase allele among wild barley accessions. Some wild barley genotypes had over two times higher enzyme activity levels compared to cultivar Pokko. There was a lot of variation in beta-amylase activities between offspring lines and parents. In some offspring lines beta-amylase allele is inherited from wild barley parent also having high activity level. These lines will be of potential sources for new enzyme malting barley cultivars.