Assessing pre-harvest sprouting in cereals using near-infrared spectroscopy-based metabolomics

Abstract

This paper presents some preliminary work assessing the potential for near-infrared-based metabolomics to provide an accurate test for detecting the early germination/pre-harvest sprouting of grains, particularly barley and wheat. Our results indicate that near-infrared spectroscopy is not only able to determine if the grain has germinated (or started germinating) or not germinated well before shoots appear but can also provide an indication of how long the germination process has been occurring for. Since near-infrared-based methods are already well established in the grain industry, this technique has the potential to form the basis of a simple, fast test that could be used on the farm as well as during storage and transport to detect early germination and allow segregation of sound and mildly sprouted grain; this could have significant economic benefits for the grain industry.

Keywords

Barley wheat metabolic profiling early germination

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abawi Y, White G (eds). Early harvest for yield, quality and profit. In: Proceedings of the 2nd Australian Post Harvest Technical Conference, Adelaide, Australia, 1–4 August 2000. Canberra, ACT, Australia.: CSIRO Stored Grain Laboratory.

Jones

OAH

Maguire

Griffin

. Metabolomics and its use in ecology. Austral Ecol 2013; 38: 713. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1111/aec.12019 .

Frank

Scholz

Peter

. Metabolite profiling of barley: influence of the malting process. Food Chem 2011; 124: 948.

Burke

Small

Antolasic

. Infrared spectroscopy-based metabolomic analysis for the detection of preharvest sprouting in grain. Cereal Chem 2016; 93: 444.