Amino acid composition of protein in hulles barley

Hulles barley grain with a high protein percentage and a complete amino acid composition is used as an ingredient in the production of food and feed with increased nutritional and consumer value. It is necessary to search for the initial material of hulles barley with a high content of essential, limiting and replaceable amino acids in order to develop high-tech varieties for food and feed products. The purpose of the current study was to determine the amino acid composition of protein in spring hulles barley varieties from the VIR collection, to identify sources with a high protein content and improved amino acid composition for use in breeding programs for the development of high-qualitative hulles barley varieties for various applications. The study was conducted at the Samara Research Institute of Agriculture of RAS in 2023–2024. Spring hulles barley varieties from the VIR collection were used as experimental material. The amino acid composition of protein was determined by capillary electrophoresis (KAPEL-105M). When studying the VIR collection of spring hulles barley in 2023–2024, there was identified a group of variety samples with an increased protein percentage, regardless of weather conditions (19.0–19.9 % on average over the years of study), which should be included in hybridization to develop high-tech varieties ‘k-5411’, ‘k-20041’, ‘k-25872’, ‘k-31125’, ‘k-21694’, ‘k-23450’, ‘k-11069’, ‘k-3115’ demonstrating their raw material advantages and areas of use. From the collection and breeding material of hulles barley grown in the arid conditions of the steppe part of the Middle Volga region, there have been identified the sources ‘k-4526’, ‘k-5058’, ‘k-5411’, ‘k-6246’, ‘k-8923’, ‘k-25872’, ‘k-31520’, ‘k-21694’, ‘Nudum 15’, ‘Streletsky golozerny’, ‘Tseleste 17’ with a high content of essential (4.30–4.80 %) and limiting amino acids (0.85–0.94 %), as well as a total amino acid content (13.88–14.69 %), which are recommended for use in the breeding programs to develop high-quality hulles barley varieties for the food and feed industries.