Effects of Combining the Genes Controlling Anthocyanin and Melanin Synthesis in the Barley Grain on Pigment Accumulation and Plant Development

Anthocyanins and melanins are phenolic pigments of plants and accumulate in seed envelopes of the barley grain, thereby giving them a blue, purple, or black color. To explore the effects of combined accumulation of anthocyanins and melanins in the grain, a barley near-isogenic line (NIL), characterized by simultaneous accumulation in both pigments, was developed using a marker-assisted approach. The presence of both pigments in the grain pericarp was evaluated by light microscopy. Emergence of anthocyanin pigmentation proved to be temporally separated from that of melanin, and the formation of anthocyanin pigments began at an earlier stage of spike maturation. During spike maturation, a significantly higher total anthocyanin content was noted in the created NIL than in the parental anthocyanin-accumulating NIL, indicating a positive influence of the Blp1 gene on the anthocyanin content at some developmental stages. In a comparative analysis of yield components, it was found that the observed differences between the barley NILs are possibly caused by environmental factors, and the presence of pigments does not decrease plant productivity. Our results should facilitate investigation into genetic mechanisms underlying overlaps in the biosynthesis of pigments and into breeding strategies aimed at the enrichment of barley varieties with polyphenols.

Application of photometry for diagnostics of nitrogen nutrition in spring barley

The article discusses a method for diagnosing nitrogen nutrition of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in different phases of the growing season using a photometric device (N-tester) Yara. The studies were carried out in the conditions of the Moscow region (Russia) on the Mikhailovsky spring barley variety on sod-podzolic medium loamy soils with a high and medium content of phosphorus and potassium and a low content of humus (1.9). The agrometeorological conditions of the growing season of spring barley were characterized by sharp fluctuations in air temperature and the amount of precipitation over decades of the month and in comparison with average long-term observations. Abundant and prolonged precipitation during the grain ripening phase led to lodging in most of the experiments, which affected the yield. To diagnose crops, a model experiment was laid with the introduction of increasing doses of nitrogen fertilizers into pre-sowing cultivation with a step of 30, at which the dose of nitrogen ranged from 30 to 150 kg/ha. Diagnostics was carried out in three phases of vegetation: tube emergence ((Z42), earing (Z55), milk ripeness of grain (Z73) with the Yara N-tester and with the help of stem diagnostics according to the modified method of V. Zerling. The results of photometric diagnostics in the stemming phase (Z42) have a strong correlation with the yield of spring barley grain and with the results of stem diagnostics (R = 0.85). Wherein, the N-tester readings in the earing phase (Z55) and milk ripeness of grain (Z73) with yield R = 0.23 and R = 0.17, respectively, have a weak correlation. This is possibly due to lodging of crops and a change in yield, not as a result of poor plant nutrition, but with difficult mechanized harvesting.

Promising two-row covered cultivars for increasing yield and quality of barley grain in conditions of the southern forest-steppe of Western Siberia

Agroclimatic features of the regions of barley cultivation necessitate the creation and cultivation of cultivars characterized by adaptability to local bioand abiofactors. Such cultivars are able to form a stable high-quality crop regardless of the conditions prevailing during the growing season. The developing of potentially high-yielding cultivars is a priority task of barley breeding in the West Siberian region. Two-row barley is characterized by grain equalization, reduced husk content and increased extractive content, compared to sixrow barley. The aim of the study was to characterize the new promising cultivars of barley (two-row covered group) selected in Omsk Agrarian Scientific Center. The research was conducted in the southern forest-steppe of Western Siberia in 2012-2019. 8 cultivars of coverd two-row barley selected in Omsk Agrarian Scientific Center were studied. There are new promising cultivars among them: Omskiy 100 (included in the Russian State Register in 2019) and Omskiy 101 (sent to the State Registration Service in 2018). The standard cultivar was Omskiy 95 (2007). The biochemical parameters of grain were determined: protein content, crude fat, starch, husk content. Barley selection from 2000 to 2019 focused on the developing of drought-resistant cultivars, which formed increased productivity and quality of grain in dry and arid periods of vegetation in conditions of optimal moistening. New promising cultivars - Omskiy 100 and Omskiy 101 were characterized by the formation of increased indicators of grain quality and productivity in vegetation periods that were contrasting in climatic characteristics. Due to increased yield and grain quality, cv. Omskiy100 had increased protein (+57.91 kg/ha), starch (+0.3 t/ha) and fat (+11.7 kg/ha) harvest compared to the standard. Cv. Omskiy 101 increased protein harvest by 84.9 kg/ha in comparison to the standard.

Accumulation of heavy metals in the grain of spring barley (Hordeum sativum) as affected by varietal characteristics and duration of storage

Purpose. Determine the content of heavy metals in the grain of spring barley varieties of different application as affected by the duration of storage. Methods. In the years 2018–2020, 11 spring barley varieties of different applications were studied: grain ‘Stalker’, ‘Vodohrai’, ‘Vzirets’, ‘Ahrarii’, ‘Shchedryk’; universal ‘Enei’; malting ‘Kozak’, ‘Dokuchaievskyi 15’, ‘Etyket’, ‘Helios’, ‘Sviatohor’. The content of chemical elements in the grain (cadmium, lead, mercury, arsenic, copper, zinc) was determined in the dynamics: immediately after harvest, after 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Results. In the studied varieties of spring barley, the lead (Pb) content in the grain varied immediately after threshing and after 7 days ranged from 1.01 to 1.12 mg/kg. Reduction of the studied element after 14 days was observed in all varieties. In particular, the lead content was 1.03 mg/kg in ‘Shchedryk’, 1.01 mg/kg in ‘Stalker’, 1.00 mg/kg in ‘Vzirets’, 0,78 mg/kg (the lowest) in ‘Vodohrai’, and 1.12 mg/kg (the highest) in ‘Ahrarii’. Studies have shown that the most sensitive to cadmium (Cd) grain variety of spring barley was ‘Vzirets’ with the content of 0.09 mg/kg immediately after threshing and on the 7th day of storage; on the 14th, 21st and 28th days, the content was 0.08 mg/kg. The content of cadmium in malting barley grain immediately after threshing and after 7 days was 0.08 mg/kg in ‘Sviatohor’, and 0.09 mg/kg in all other varieties. On the 14th day, the accumulation remained unchanged in varieties ‘Dokuchaievskyi 15’, ‘Etyket’, ‘Helios’, ‘Sviatohor’; insignificant decrease was noted in ‘Kozak’ (0.07 mg/kg). After the storage for 21 and 28 days, the cadmium content was 0.07 mg/kg in ‘Sviatohor’ and ‘Kozak’, and 0.08 mg/kg in all others. Conclusions. The lowest cadmium content was determined in variety ‘Shchedryk’. Immediately after threshing and after 7 days of storage it was 0.05 mg/kg, and on the 14th, 21st and 28th days it decreased to 0.03 mg/kg. Immediately after threshing and after 7 days, the mercury content of the varieties varied from 0.07 to 0.03 mg/kg. After 14, 21 and 28 days, the following values were determined: in ‘Vodohrai’ 0.06 mg/kg, in ‘Stalker’ and ‘Vzirets’ 0.05 mg/kg, in ‘Ahrarii’ 0.04 mg/kg, ‘Shchedryk’ 0.3 mg/kg. Depending on the varietal characteristics and duration of storage, the highest content (14.05 mg/kg) was determined in ‘Ahrarii’, and the lowest (12.55 mg/kg) in ‘Shchedryk’. The study of the ‘Enei’ variety of spring barley of universal application allows us to note that the accumulation of heavy metals, as affected by the duration of storage, did not differ significantly from the grain varities.

Productivity indicators and correlations between them in spring barley cultivars of Uman National University of Horticulture

The study of crop formation processes by constituent elements revealed the dependence of the parameters of the number of grains in the ear and the weight of barley grain at the same level of grain yield on the number of productive stems per unit area. It is established that the increase in the number of productive shoots per 1 m2 is accompanied by a significant decrease in the productivity potential of the ear in terms of the number of grains and the parameters of the mass of one grain. The correlation dependence of these yield elements on the stem density of barley is strong. In the studies of 2018–2021, the number of productive stems, plant height, productivity of one ear and weight of 1000 grains of spring barley varieties Daniele, Gezine, Beatrix, Soldo, 5/18, Fabiola, Sangria, Utah, 9/19, Mompi 19, Lyuba and Champush. Correlation holidays between these indicators were also established. The number of productive stems of spring barley varieties on average for 2018–2021 amounted to 0.87–1.39 pieces/1 plant. The average biotype ranged from 0.89 in 2018 to 1.47 in 2021. There was a medium and strong variation in the number of productive stems depending on genotypes. In most collection specimens, the rate varied greatly depending on growing conditions. Collectible samples 5/18 is a semi-dwarf, other biotypes are dwarfs. The highest plants were in 2020. The plant height of most cultivars varied slightly over the years of research. The average productivity of one ear of the analyzed collection samples was 0.63–1.17 g. The lowest indicators were noted in 2018, the highest – in 2020. The average weight of 1000 grains was 45.2–53.5 g with the highest indicator in 2021 g. The correlation between plant height and ear weight per ear was positive medium and close; between the number of productive stems and plant height – positive average, weak and negative average; between the number of productive stems and the mass of grain from the ear – a weak positive and negative correlation; between the number of productive stems and the mass of 1000 grains – the average positive and weak negative; between the height of the plants and the mass of 1000 grains and between the mass of grains from the ear and the mass of 1000 grains – from the average positive to the average negative.

Spikelet abortion in six-rowed barley is mainly influenced by final spikelet number with potential spikelet number acting as a suppressor trait

The potential to increase barley grain yield lies in the indeterminate nature of its inflorescence meristem (IM). The IM produces spikelets, the basic reproductive unit in grasses, which are linked to reproductive success. During early reproductive growth, barley spikes pass through the maximum yield potential—a stage after which no new spikelet ridges are produced. Subsequently, spikelet abortion (SA), a phenomenon in which spikelets abort during spike growth, imposes a bottleneck on increasing the grain yield potential. Here, we studied the potential of main culm spikes by counting potential spikelet number (PSN), final spikelet number (FSN) and computed the corresponding SA (%) in a panel of 417 six-rowed spring barleys. Our phenotypic data analyses showed a significantly large within- and across-years genotypic variation with high broad-sense heritability estimates for all the investigated traits, including SA. Asian accessions displayed the lowest SA indicating the presence of favorable alleles that may be exploited in breeding programs. A significantly negative Pearson’s product-moment correlation was observed between FSN and SA. Our path analysis revealed that PSN and FSN explain 93% of the observed phenotypic variability for SA with PSN behaving as a suppressor trait magnifying the effect. Based on a large set of diverse barley accessions, our results provide a deeper phenotypic understanding of the quantitative genetic nature of SA, its association with traits of high agronomic importance, and a resource for further genetic analyses.

Application of Hull-Less Barley Variety ‘Kornelija’ Grains for Yogurt Development

Nowadays consumers are looking for new food products with added nutritional value. Therefore, producers and scientists develop new recipes and technologies with the aim to enrich products with fibres, vitamins, and probiotics. Since naked barley contains high concentration of soluble dietary fibre, including β-glucans, which have stabilising properties, it has a good potential for fermented dairy food development. The goal of the current study was to assess the application of hull-less barley grain ‘Kornelija’ for development of fibre-enriched yogurt. Milk was fermented with freeze-dried starter (Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus) by adding flour of ungerminated, 24 and 36 hours germinated barley grain (amount 2%, 3%, 4%) at 41 ± 1 oC up to pH 4.7 ± 1.0. pH of samples during fermentation, the colony forming units of lactic acid bacteria, viscosity, and concentration of fibres were determined. Results of the current study showed that flour from ungerminated, and 24 and 36 hours germinated barley grain, fortified yogurt with dietary fibre (from 0.89 to 1.77 g·100 kcal−1), promoted growth of lactic acid bacteria in the product, increased the viscosity and shortened fermentation time, but the significance of effects depended on the amount and type of added flour.

Influence of the agro zerebra growth regulator on yield and quality of spring barley grain

The results of experiments on studying the effect of the growth regulator Zerebra Agro on the grain yield of spring barley, the chemical composition of plants, the quality of the grain and the amino acid composition of the protein when cultivated according to different predecessors on meadow-chernozem soil in the conditions of the Omsk region are presented. Field studies were carried out in 2014-2016. on the fields of the educational and experimental farm of the Omsk State Agrarian University, and laboratory at the Department of Agrochemistry and Soil Science of Omsk State Agrarian University. Vvariety of spring barley – Gift of Siberia. Predecessors – steam and wheat, agricultural technics – common for the zone The use of the growth regulator Zerebra Agro at a dose of 150 ml/ha made it possible to form an increase in the yield of barley grain when cultivating barley after wheat in steam – 0,27 t/ha and 0,31 t/ha when cultivated with the second crop after steam (in the control variant, the yield was for a pair of 2.82 t/ha, for wheat 1.72 t/ha). The applied growth regulator had a positive effect on the grain quality of spring barley.