Developing high beta-glucan barley as a sustainable healthy wholegrain food

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Spring barley plays an important role in sustainable rotations, requiring lower inputs of nitrogen fertilizer, herbicides, fungicides and plant growth regulators than winter wheat and facilitates either over-winter stubbles for wildlife or use of cover crops. In recent years there has been an increase in the spring barley area in England, mainly to help control black-grass, a predominately autumn-germinating weed. The UK produces over 7m tonnes of barley each year, predominantly for use in animal feed, brewing, distilling and export. The food industry uses little barley even though barley can deliver equivalent health benefits to oats. These are largely due to inherently high levels of beta-glucan: a non-starch, non-cellulosic polysaccharide which is found in the cell walls of cereal grains. This remains undigested in the human small intestine, acting as a soluble fibre which confers significant dietary health benefits, through actively lowering blood cholesterol and slowing post-prandial glucose release. New food markets for barley would increase economic and social sustainability by providing farmers with higher value markets for an established crop, and by improving population health by reducing risk of type-2 diabetes and cardio-vascular disease. Our project aims to support the development of healthier wholegrain barley as a food ingredient, by increasing our understanding of the genetic and environmental factors that can impact on beta-glucan levels.