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To examine environmental differences between southern and northern European malting barleys, particularly relating to protein and hordein influences on malt extract development, samples of the malting barley cultivar Alexis, from the Nordic countries and from the Iberian Peninsula, were used. Fractionation ofhordeins was carried out on barley grains, prior to micromalting and malt analyses, using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Different mechanisms for extract development, in malting barleys from the North and South of Europe, have been demonstrated. Barley protein content determined a significantly greater decrease in malt extract in the Nordic samples, compared with those from the Iberian Peninsula, while apparent final attenuation showed a more pronounced positive association with extract in the South than in the North. B-hordein was associated with a significanlty greater decrease in malt extract in the Nordic compared to the Mediterranean samples.

To continue our effort to analyse the genetic (varietal) and environmental (sites and years) effects on malting quality of barley, we have field‐tested four barley varieties, two‐ and six‐rowed, European and North American, in Spain and Canada in 1998 and 1999. The Spanish trials were autumn‐sown whereas the Canadian ones were spring‐sown. Barley grain was analysed for total protein and hordein contents and micromalted. Canadian‐grown barleys had significantly lower contents of grain protein and all‐three hordein fractions than the Spanish ones. They also had lower malt respiratory losses, wort β‐glucan and viscosity but lower fine‐ and coarse‐ground malt extract yield, friability, free amino nitrogen, Kolbach index, α‐amylase and diastatic power. In other words, the Canadian‐grown barleys, despite showing lower protein and hordein contents, produced malt of inferior quality than their Spanish counterparts, which, overall, produced higher quantities of degrading enzymes (amylolytic, proteolytic and cytolytic) during germination, thus being able to attain higher extract yield levels.