Polysaccharides in barley and oats - adaptation for food and for feed (194858)

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It is stated that barley and oats have beneficial nutritional properties for food as well as for animal feed. To increase the use of these grains in the diet and in concentrates for animals there is a need for more knowledge about their starch and fibre q uality when grown under northern climate conditions. The four year research project "Polysaccharides in barley and oats - adaptation for food and for feed" will meet these challenges and the principal objective is to obtaining new knowledge for the grain industry on the effects of genotype, climate parameters and processing methods on the quality of starch and cereal fibers in barley and oats. This will be done by 1) Document the effect of genotype and climate parameters on the quality of starch and fibe rs in the grain, 2) Determine the significance of different processing methods on the quality of starch and fibers and 3) Implement the knowledge on nutritional and technological quality parameters in barley and oats in the value chain. The climate effect s will be investigated under controlled conditions in climate chambers and plastic tunnels as well as in field trials in different regions of Norway. The project is lead by Bioforsk Arable Crop Division in close cooperation with the Departments of Plant a nd Environmental Science and Animal and Aquacultural Science at UMB and Nofima Food. I addition Graminor, Institute of Food Research, England, The Norwegian Agricultural Extension Service and industry representatives of the value chain are involved in the project. All together the project will build up a knowledge base for production of barley and oats with good and stable quality, focusing on the marked demand as well as better utilisation of the grain for different purposes. Furthermore the project wil l give new knowledge on the effect of climate factors on the quality of fibre and starch, and thus information on future expected climate changes on these quality parameters.