ABSTRACT
The value of a barley crop is determined primarily by the dry matter production. When pre-harvest sprouting occurs, it leads to a loss of dry matter. For the industry, sprout damage, strangely enough, has its serious effects on the production of malt which is a product of sprouted barley. Pre-harvest sprouting would be expected to reduce the technological quality of naked barley for porridge, but since most of the actual areas involved are very dry sprouting is normally not a problem. In order to discuss the sprouting problem, some attention has to be paid to certain aspects of the germination process. If different isoenzymes have different reactions to hormones and inhibitors, varieties with different sprouting "properties" might be produced through plant breeding. G. C. Gibbons demonstrated very clearly at the 2nd International Sprouting Symposium that the degradation of starch in the endosperm starts in the region adjacent to the scutellum and proceeds from the scutellum and into the endosperm.
