PREDICTING THE GERMINATIVE ENERGY OF DORMANT MALTING BARLEY DURING STORAGE

The management of dormant barley stocks for malting requires a method of predicting germinative energy under given conditions during storage . A method of quantifying the relationship between storage temperature and the dormancy period is developed based on probit analysis. The ex perimental data were obtained using Triumph barley. The conditions cov ered in the experimental work were 8-degrees-C to 38-degrees-C storage temperature at 12% moisture content, wet basis. Combined use of the d ormancy model with an existing viability model allows the prediction o f germinative energy as a function of storage temperature and moisture content given the initial germinative energy and capacity values. The effects of storage temperature on the variation in germination over t ime of dormant barley samples with various initial germinative capacit ies, and storage moisture contents are investigated using the model. T he results indicate that storage at moisture contents below 12% give s ignificant increases in the germination level that can be achieved.