Genetic and environmental basis for endosperm hardness in malting barley. Barleys with a hard endosperm do not malt as well as other barleys, leading to under-modified malt. While malts may appear to be satisfactory by bulk chemical analysis, even relatively small amounts of under-modified malt causes problems in the brewing industry, such as slow filtration rates and increasing haze formation. We aim to examine two new procedures potentially useful in determining heterogeneity in barley hardn ....Genetic and environmental basis for endosperm hardness in malting barley. Barleys with a hard endosperm do not malt as well as other barleys, leading to under-modified malt. While malts may appear to be satisfactory by bulk chemical analysis, even relatively small amounts of under-modified malt causes problems in the brewing industry, such as slow filtration rates and increasing haze formation. We aim to examine two new procedures potentially useful in determining heterogeneity in barley hardness by examining single kernels, and investigating the role of barley variety and growing conditions on hardness.This project will aid in the production and selection of more uniform barleys for the malting and brewing industries.Read moreRead less
Assuring the microbial safety and quality of Australian malt and barley. This project aims to ensure that Australian malt and barley is 'clean' and free of undesirable micro-organisms that may produce mycotoxins and factors that impact on brewing efficiency and beer quality. The project will determine what is the typical microbial composition and load of Australian malt and barley grown in different environments and areas benchmarked against malting barley and malt grown internationally. A set ....Assuring the microbial safety and quality of Australian malt and barley. This project aims to ensure that Australian malt and barley is 'clean' and free of undesirable micro-organisms that may produce mycotoxins and factors that impact on brewing efficiency and beer quality. The project will determine what is the typical microbial composition and load of Australian malt and barley grown in different environments and areas benchmarked against malting barley and malt grown internationally. A set of diagnostic tools are expected to be developed. The successful execution of the project is expected to highlight that Australian malt and barley is of high quality so that the health of domestic customers is ensured and it attracts a premium from our export customers.Read moreRead less
Plant transformation: exploiting anti-apoptosis genes for very high efficiency transformation. Crop improvement through genetic modification depends on the ability to transform target species. The most desirable method is Agrobacterium mediated transformation. However, plant species and cultivars differ significantly in their ability to be efficiently transformed by Agrobacterium. This is particularly true for the economically important cereals. We have discovered that anti-apoptosis genes, whic ....Plant transformation: exploiting anti-apoptosis genes for very high efficiency transformation. Crop improvement through genetic modification depends on the ability to transform target species. The most desirable method is Agrobacterium mediated transformation. However, plant species and cultivars differ significantly in their ability to be efficiently transformed by Agrobacterium. This is particularly true for the economically important cereals. We have discovered that anti-apoptosis genes, which inhibit programmed cell death, dramatically increase the Agrobacterium transformation efficiency in bananas and sugarcane. We will utilise this information and develop the use of these genes to increase the efficiency of transformation in those crops and cultivars that are difficult to transform using Agrobacterium.Read moreRead less
Investigation of the impact of malt haze active proteins to improve brewing efficiency and beer quality. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (600,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising the cost of brewery colloidal stabilisation measures, we expect hi ....Investigation of the impact of malt haze active proteins to improve brewing efficiency and beer quality. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (600,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising the cost of brewery colloidal stabilisation measures, we expect higher demand and prices for Australian malting barley and malt. This will help support the viability of rural communities and the value adding involved in the malting and brewing of their produce in Australia.Read moreRead less
Barley malt modification, its control by understanding the biochemistry and genetics of proteases and thioredoxin. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (800,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising its production, we expect higher demand and prices for A ....Barley malt modification, its control by understanding the biochemistry and genetics of proteases and thioredoxin. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (800,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising its production, we expect higher demand and prices for Australian malting barley and malt. This will help support the viability of rural communities and the value adding involved in the malting and brewing of their produce in Australia.Read moreRead less
Adding value to waste products from the brewing industry. Adding value to waste products from the brewing industry. This project aims to extract value from spent barley grains, the major by-product of the brewing industry. Currently sold as animal feed, this waste stream is a raw source of valuable carbohydrates and proteins for functional foods, packaging materials and liquid biofuels. This project will combine multidisciplinary approaches to characterise spent grain components and optimise rel ....Adding value to waste products from the brewing industry. Adding value to waste products from the brewing industry. This project aims to extract value from spent barley grains, the major by-product of the brewing industry. Currently sold as animal feed, this waste stream is a raw source of valuable carbohydrates and proteins for functional foods, packaging materials and liquid biofuels. This project will combine multidisciplinary approaches to characterise spent grain components and optimise release of bioactive molecules for use as prebiotics, antioxidants, nutraceuticals, and modifiers of beer quality. The research is expected to generate resources for studying barley grain, intellectual property, patents and new in-line processes for the brewing industry.Read moreRead less
Reduced Water Consumption in Commercial Malting Processes. The successful outcome for the project will be the production of barley varieties that can be successfully malted with a single steep, rather than the conventional two steeps currently employed. The objective will be achieved through the reduction of cell wall beta-glucan in barley grain. This will result in water savings of around 40%, or 1,500 megalitres per annum, for the Australian malting industry. The 1,500 megalitres saving in ....Reduced Water Consumption in Commercial Malting Processes. The successful outcome for the project will be the production of barley varieties that can be successfully malted with a single steep, rather than the conventional two steeps currently employed. The objective will be achieved through the reduction of cell wall beta-glucan in barley grain. This will result in water savings of around 40%, or 1,500 megalitres per annum, for the Australian malting industry. The 1,500 megalitres saving in water use would be sufficient to support the domestic water consumption of 30,000 people, based upon the use of 140 litres per person per day that was recently achieved in Brisbane.Read moreRead less