THE ESTIMATION OF β-GLUCAN IN BARLEY

Abstract

The method described involves a differential assay in which the glucose content of a total acid hydrolysate of an extract of barley is estimated by glucose oxidase, and the α-glucan content similarly determined after treatment of the extract with amyloglucosidase. The difference between these estimations represents the glucose derived from β-glucan. The method provides reproducible results which are relatively insensitive to minor variations in the assay conditions, apart from temperature of extract preparation.