Cereal Chem 57:198 - 202.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Enzymic Analysis of Beta-D-Glucans in Cereal Grains.

N. Prentice, S. Babler, and S. Faber. Copyright 1980 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Crude beta-D-glucans were extracted from cereal grains and assayed by their hydrolysis to glucose with a partially purified beta-glucanase complex from Trichoderma viride. The required beta-glucanase was separated from contaminating amyloglucosidase by treatment of the fungal enzymes in 0.02M acetate, pH 4.6, with diethylaminoethyl cellulose equilibrated with this buffer. The positively charged beta-glucanases were removed by filtration, whereas the anionic amyloglucosidases reacted with the cationic form of the diethylaminoethyl cellulose. The level of beta-D-glucan in Larker barley was 7.2% when extracted at 80 C but only 2.8% when extracted at 45 C. beta-D-Glucan quantities extracted at 80 C ranged from 1.2% for triticale to 8.2% for Birgitta barley. beta-D-Glucan in malting barley varieties varied from 4.6% for Beacon to 8.2% for Birgitta. Oats contained 6.6% and wheat 1.4% beta-D-glucan.