Size distribution of barley kernels

Abstract

Barley primarily serves as a major animal feed crop; smaller amounts of barley are used in health foods and in the malting process. Detailed geometric parameters of kernels are very important for the design of food engineering processes, such as the air transport, drying, milling, and malting. Image analysis was used to determine the size parameters of one hundred kernels of selected varieties of <I>Hordeum vulgare</I> L. The data for every kernel captured were stored for further use, together with the mean, standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (<I>CV</I>), and images themselves. The measured data were then used to compute the volume and surface area of each of the five kernel models (Models 0–4), the results being subsequently verified by pycnometric measurement. Model 0 represents the general ellipsoid, models 1–3 various combinations of two parts of a general ellipsoid with one or two cone frustums. The best fitted model 4 was a combination of two cone frustums. Based on the results of image analysis measurements and on the presented model 4, a simplified method for the specific surface estimation of barley grains from the weight of 1000 kernels is recommended.

Comparison and quality evaluation of hull-less and covered Brazilian barley for food industry application

“…From the covered barley group, BRS Itanema presented great grain filling, and together with BRS Aliensa, BRS Korbel (PF) and MN6021 (PF) was similar to some hull-less varieties. Sykorova et al (2009) found TKW results between 38 and 50 grams for barley cropped in the Czech Republic, which matches some results found in this paper. MN6021 (VG) was the worst cultivar in grain filling with only 24.96 grams in TKW.…”

“…For food industry engineering processes, such as air transport, drying, milling and malting, geometric features of cereal grain, including barley, are very important. Kernel size 5/8 and shape influence the electrostatic separation of barley from extraneous material, as well as the development of sizing and grading machinery (Sykorova et al, 2009).…”

“…The thousand kernel weight (TKW) is a typical indicator of the mean kernel size (Sykorova et al, 2009). Thousand-kernel weight is a predictive physical analysis for cereal grains as it is directly proportional to starch content and grain filling, which might improve yield in industrial processes.…”

The detection of QTLs in barley associated with endosperm hardness, grain density, grain size and malting quality using rapid phenotyping tools

“…Two-dimensional DIA has also been used to derive grain size and shape data on individual barley grains (Walker and Panozzo 2012;Ayoub et al 2002;Nielsen 2003). Data from 2-D images can be used to calculate grain length and major-width (Walker and Panozzo 2012;Sýkorová et al 2009), however the third dimension (minor-width) was not measured. The minor-width is an important trait for the malting industry, impacting on how barley is graded.…”

The history of cataract surgery: from couching to phacoemulsification

“…Thus, nominally, a barleycorn (yava) would typically be about 2.4 mm. Actual barley kernels measure, on average, 5.9 mm long, 3.7 mm wide, and 2.9 mm high (thick) (145). These measurements were made with the husk on (Sarka Evzen, personal communication, 2020).…”