Nutrient Change and Nutritional Evaluation of Barley during Germination

The contents of proteins, crude fat, starch, amino acids, reducing sugar, β-glucan, total dietary fiber(TDF), soluble dietary fiber(SDF), insoluble dietary fibre(IDF), vitamin B 1 and vitamin B 2 in barley were determined to reveal the changes of nutrients during germination. The results showed that tota l dry materials were degraded during germination. The contents of protei ns, fat and starch significantly decreased. Mean while, the contents of soluble low molecular sugar, nitrogencontaining substances and vitamins greatly increased. The content of reducing sugar increased from 2.78% to 14.36%, and an increase in total amino acid content of 8.15% was observed. The contents of seven essential amino acids were markedly increased in the first five days of germination, and the lysine content was increased by approximately 32% at the end of germination. Non-essential amino acids also had an increasing trend. Compared with ungerminated barley, the content of vitamin B 2 was significantly increased although the content of vitamin B 1 did not significantly change. Meanwhile, β-glucan revealed a decrease and SDF exhibited an increase. During germination, the values of E/T ratio and EAAI increased, the compositional pattern of EAA measured up better to the FAO/WHO standards, and the first limiting amino acid changed from lysine to methionine and cysteine. In conclusion, the nutritional value was improved in barley during germination, but germination may restrict the utilization of β-glucan functional properties.