Cereal Chem 48:255 - 269.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Changes in Barley Kernels During Growth and Maturation.

A. W. MacGregor, D. E. LaBerge, and W. O. S. Meredith. Copyright 1971 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Samples of Conquest barley were collected at regular intervals, from flowering to maturity, during the 1969 crop-growing season. These were analyzed for moisture, kernel weight, protein, ash, fat, crude fiber, sugars, starch, and alpha- and beta-amylase activities. The major components, protein and starch, reached their maximum values 32 to 36 days after ear emergence, but the sugars rose to a maximum 16 days after ear emergence and then declined. Alpha-amylase activity increased and then declined rapidly between 5 and 11 days after ear emergence. "Free" beta-amylase activity increased from 9 days after ear emergence to a maximum level after 35 days and then declined, whereas "bound" beta-amylase was first detected 16 days after ear emergence and its activity rose to a maximum at maturity.