Malting Quality in a changing climate

在这个项目中，学生将使用现代遗传和基因组技术研究气候变化对大麦的影响。您的工作将集中在当前育种计划中啤酒和威士忌的麦芽质量，特别是植物和谷物发育过程中环境热应力的影响。该项目将使用受控环境和温室工作，并在一个综合的生理/遗传研究中进行田间试验，以确定赋予气候鲁棒性的性状和控制它们的遗传变异。本调查将剖析IBH在JHI生产基地和先正达设施的微麦芽实验室对麦芽生产质量的影响。这项麦芽生产工作将集中在已知的复杂的相互作用的麦芽质量与环境和遗传背景，同时集中在精英材料与理想的麦芽质量。该项目的这一方面包括有机会更详细地研究气候变量对谷物中淀粉和其他多糖沉积的影响，以及随后对麦芽质量的影响。鼓励对植物遗传学和现代植物育种感兴趣的学生申请。博士学位提供了相当多的培训机会，包括与行业的实习。背景由于气候变化，每年天气模式的变化正在增加。2020/21年生长季节，英国春季平均气温较高，超出了30年一遇的范围，2021/22年收获季节，夏季气温创下历史新高。气候模型表明，这些波动和极端情况可能会继续下去，甚至会恶化。这些环境压力对作物产量和产量构成因素，以及对制麦质量都有明显的影响。制麦是一个工业过程，依赖于摄入均匀质量的大麦作物进行高效和均匀的加工。这些气候波动对麦芽制造业和大麦供应链构成了重大挑战。然而，有证据表明，一些大麦品种的麦芽质量似乎比其他品种更容易受到气候变化的影响。这表明有机会培育出在未来一系列气候情景下保持麦芽质量的大麦品种。

In this project the student will investigate the impact of climate variation on barley using modern genetic and genomic techniques. Your work will focus on malting quality for beer and whisky in a current breeding programme, in particular the effect of environmental heat stress during plant and grain development. This project will use controlled environment and glasshouse work, and field trials in a combined physiological/genetic study to identify the traits that confer climatic robustness and the genetic variants that control them. This investigation will dissect the effect on malting quality using the IBH micromalting lab on the JHI site and facilities in Syngenta. This malting work will focus on the known complex interactions of malting quality with environment and genetic background whilst concentrating on elite material with desirable malting quality. This aspect of the project includes the opportunity for more detailed studies into the effect of climatic variables on deposition of starch and other polysaccharides in the grain, and the subsequent impact on malting quality. Applications are encouraged from students with an interest in plant genetics and modern plant breeding. The PhD offers considerable training opportunities including placements with industry. BackgroundDue to climate change the variability in annual weather patterns is increasing. In the 2020/21 growing season average UK spring temperatures were high, outside the 30-year range and in the 2021/22 harvest record summer temperatures were recorded. Climate models suggest these fluctuations and extremes are likely to continue and indeed worsen. There is a clear impact of these environmental stresses on crop yield and yield components, but also on malting quality. Malting is an industrial process and relies on an intake of a uniform quality barley crop for efficient and homogenous processing. These fluctuations in climate present a significant challenge to the malting industry and the barley supply chain. However, there is evidence that the malting quality of some barley varieties appears to be more robust to climate variation than others. This indicates that there is the opportunity to breed barley varieties that retain malting quality across a range of future climate scenarios.