AN ASSESSMENT OF THE MALTING QUALITY OF A MUTANT OF THE BARLEY CV. TROUBADOUR GROWN UNDER SCOTTISH CONDITIONS

The barley mutant, TR49, selected in Spain for rapid germination, and its parent cultivar Troubadour, were grown in Scotland in 1991 and assessed for a range of grain and malt quality characters. Results suggested that both genotypes had a potential dormancy problem, although TR49 showed a slight but significant improvement over Troubadour. TR49 produced very large grain which did not completely modify during malting, but still showed an advantage over its parent cultivar for all malting parameters assessed.     

Characterization of a thermostable and acidic-tolerable beta-glucanase from aerobic fungi Trichoderma koningii ZJU-T

ABSTRACT:  An extreme thermostable and acidic tolerable β-glucanase was isolated and characterized from aerobic fungi Trichoderma koningii ZJU-T. The optimal reaction temperature and pH for the β-glucanase were 100 °C and pH 2.0, respectively. The β-glucanase showed increased stability at higher temperatures and lower pH values when compared to other β-glucanases. The optimum conditions for the β-glucanase stability were found to be pH 4.0 and 80 °C. Even subjected to 100 °C for 3 h, β-glucanase activity did not show significant reduction. Moreover, K⁺ significantly enhanced β-glucanase activity at the concentration of 1 mM, while EDTA and other metal ions such as Mg²⁺, Mn²⁺, Zn²⁺, Ca²⁺, Fe²⁺, Pb²⁺, and Fe³⁺ inhibited β-glucanase activity. Denaturants, including sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and mercaptoethanol, also inhibited β-glucanase activity at a concentration of 5%. However, in the presence of 7 M urea, residual activity of the β-glucanase still remained 14.5%.