VARIETAL DIFFERENCES IN BARLEYS AND MALTS: III. CORRELATIONS BETWEEN NITROGEN AND SACCHARIFYING ACTIVITIES

Abstract

Investigations made with samples representing 12 varieties of barley, grown at 12 experimental stations in Canada, show that fairly close intra-varietal correlations exist between the total nitrogen of barley and the saccharifying activities of the barley and of the malt made from it; and that these correlations are closer than the corresponding correlations with nitrogen fractions. No inter-varietal correlation exists between saccharifying activities on the one hand, and total nitrogen, alcohol-soluble nitrogen, or insoluble nitrogen, on the other, but inter-varietal correlations appear to exist between saccharifying activities and the more soluble nitrogen fractions.The correlations between the nitrogen, or nitrogen fractions, and total barley saccharifying activity (papain method), and between the nitrogen, or nitrogen fractions, and free malt saccharifying activity (Lintner value), are closer than the corresponding correlations for free and latent barley saccharifying activities. Latent barley saccharifying activity is more closely correlated with total nitrogen than with any of the nitrogen fractions studied.A study of the multiple correlations between malt saccharifying activity, and total nitrogen and 1000-kernel weight of barley, shows that the improvement resulting from the introduction of 1000-kernel weight as a second independent variable is very small.