Breeding of lipoxygenase-1-less malting barley variety ‘Satuiku 2 go’

Abstract

The lipoxygenase-1-less (LOX-less) trait has positive effects on beer quality, in particular, improvement of flavour stability related to the reduction of beer-deteriorating substances such as trans-2-nonenal. ‘Ryohfu’ is the only spring-sown malting barley variety grown in Hokkaido, located in the northern part of Japan, and has been used in the Japanese brewing industry for over 20 years. ‘Satuiku 2 go’ was developed as the first LOX-less malting barley variety in Japan by successive back-crossing with molecular marker-assisted selection to introduce the LOX-less trait into the recurrent parent ‘Ryohfu’. The agronomic performance and general malt quality of ‘Satuiku 2 go’ were almost equivalent to those of ‘Ryohfu’. Wort and beer analyses at the pilot-scale brewing trial indicated that the LOX-less trait had little effect on the general characteristics. In contrast, the beers made from ‘Satuiku 2 go’ malt exhibited reduced levels of trans-2-nonenal and trihydroxyoctadecenoic acid. The sensory evaluation demonstrated the superiority of ‘Satuiku 2 go’ beers stored under differing conditions in terms of staleness. It can be concluded that the LOX-less trait was effective in different genetic backgrounds of the recurrent parents used for the development of LOX-less malting barley varieties. Copyright © 2018 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling