Development of rapid-drying barley for sustainable malting. Barley is a fundamental ingredient in the brewing and distilling industries, but traditional malting processes that germinate and dry grain

Description

Development of rapid-drying barley for sustainable malting. Barley is a fundamental ingredient in the brewing and distilling industries, but traditional malting processes that germinate and dry grain are resource-intensive and challenged by rising energy costs. This project aims to identify natural genetic variation in barley that contributes to improved performance during gas-powered kilning, the most costly processing step for the $484M malt export industry. The multidisciplinary project team of seed biologists, maltsters, and breeders, is expected to generate new information regarding the basis for variation in grain drying. This is expected to deliver reduced-input barley varieties for Australian growers that require less energy to process and are highly valued in domestic and export markets. . Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 3004 - Crop and Pasture Production. Lead: Prof Matthew Tucker