A New Germinative Classification Model of Barley for Prediction of Malt Quality Amplified by a Near Infrared Transmission Spectroscopy Calibration for Vigour “On Line” Both Implemented by Multivariate Data Analysis

Abstract

A new germinative two-dimensional classification plot fully compatible to the current EBC analyses (EBC methods 3.5-3.7) is proposed for malting barley based on separate estimates for "vigour" (24 h germination) as abscissa with limits at 70% and 30% and for "viability" (72 h germination) as ordinate with limits at 98% and 92%. Early detection of germination by image analysis was improved by utilising the auto fluorescence of the root cap. The seven hierarchical germinative classes visualise the quality differences in a consistent way, ordering classes according to falling extract % and increasing wort ␤-glucan (mg/L).It was surprising to discover that significant barley Near Infrared Transmission (NIT) spectroscopy based Partial Least Squares Regression prediction models for "vigour" and "viability" were obtained after removing the PLSR outliers. The majority of these were found to be low in vigour.It was concluded after experimental validation that the physical-chemical structure of the seed, reflected by the correlation of the barley NIT spectral fingerprints to germination speed, is connected to the availability of substrate for germ growth. This is another aspect of the speed of malt modification.An automated combination instrument for measuring physicalchemical and seed germination parameters is suggested for quality control and to establish an on-line NIT calibration network for integrated germinative and malting quality classification.

A new holistic exploratory approach to Systems Biology by Near Infrared Spectroscopy evaluated by chemometrics and data inspection

“…Similarly two fatty acids identified in a PLSR analysis could be used to predict dioxin content in a fish oil material [[6] p. 75 [44]]. Inspired by PCAs on germination curves from malting barley, extract and b-glucan in wort could be classified and predicted for a wide range of samples in a simple x-y plot, excising 1 day and 3 days germination as indicators for vigour (seedling growth velocity) and viability (live kernels) [[6] p. 60 [45]]. This is why inventors survive and why the extremely simplified variance approach to mathematical modelling by the 'surgery in networks' of classical statistics (Section 2.3) is so relatively successful.…”

“…C. The changed gene background to a mutant obtained by cross breading for a mutant gene as the difference between the spectra from the recombinant and the original mutant [[6] p. 47 [18,48]]. D. Complex technological traits such as baking quality in wheat and malting quality in barley as specific spectral signatures characteristic for the superior technological performance of premium quality varieties that was interpreted as a physicochemical fingerprint [6,8,18,45,47,48]. E. 'Data breeding' [64] as the evaluation of genetic recombinants of unknown quality by comparing their positions in a NIR/PCA score plot in relation to high and low quality controls as demonstrated in Figure 1A.…”

“…It includes environmental effects and confounded physical-chemical information that can be partially deconvoluted by iPCA, iPLSR and iECVA (Section 4.3.4 and Table I) and by direct evaluation of spectra. The practical applicability [6,8,18,45] as related to quality of the finely tuned spectral patterns including differential spectra in genetics and plant breeding calls for a new outlook in destructive mathematical modelling to conserve information. In forensic science human fingerprints have an extremely high predictive value [72].…”

Near Infrared Transmission Spectra of Barley of Malting Grade Represent a Physical-Chemical Fingerprint of the Sample That Is Able to Predict Germinative Vigour in a Multivariate Data Evaluation Model

“…Our research group [25][26][27]38 has focused on finding a simple and relatively fast criterion for seed vigour. We demonstrated 25 , that the barley samples could be classified according to malt quality in a plot with estimated "vigour" (g%1) as abscissa and "viability" (g%3) as ordinate.…”

Germination index as an indicator of malting potential

“…Freshly harvested grain is not recommended for immediate malting due to uneven germination, thereby reducing the resultant malt quality (Carreck & Christian 1997;Woonton et al 2005b). Optimal germination performance such as the high vigour and germination capacity or viability of barley at the time of the malting process is without any doubt the most important quality criterion for malting barley (Swanston & Taylor 1990;Larsenet 1994;Briggs 1995;Lu et al 2000;Munck & Moller 2004). …”