EVALUATION OF OAT GENOTYPES FOR THE CONTENT OF β-GLUCANS IN GRAIN ON THE BASIS OF ITS PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

the beneficial of oat  -glucans on human health and their role in the assimilation of feed by non-ruminant animals, the selection of oats for increased (cereal direction) and reduced (feed use) content of these polysaccharides in grain is an urgent task. To perform screening of breeding material for the specified biochemical indicator of oat quality, it is advisable to use simple, express and non-destructive methods of grain analysis. The aim of this work is the devel- opment of a rapid method to evaluate oat genotypes for the content of  -glucans in grain based on the measurement of physical characteristics of grain. For the first time, it was found that in oat samples with a high content of  -glucans, the film-free grain was characterized by a higher density ( r = 0.818). Probably, the mechanism explaining the presence of this correlation is associated with the formation of thicker and more densely packed cell walls in the endosperm, which has a greater number of these chemicals. In the research, 16 accessions of hulled oats and 2 accessions of naked oats from the VIR collection were involved. Concentration of  -glucans in grain was measured by the conventional enzymatic techniques. Physical characteristics (nature, 1000-grain weight, density, volume fraction of water uptake) were studied on the whole and/or hull-less grain. Measuring grain density for each oat accession was performed by the sand replacement method described by D.C. Doehlert and M.S. McMullen (2008); the natural grain weight was measured by the techniques offered by C.K. Walker, and J.F. Panozzo (2011); water uptake by grain was determined by the vacuum infil- tration methodology. It is shown that 1000-grain weight of the studied oat accessions was not associated with the level of  -glucans in grain. There is an insignificant positive dependence between  - glucan content on the one hand, and the natural weight, density of whole grain and the volume fraction of water uptake by grain on the other hand. The oat accessions with higher content of  -glucans had higher density of hull-less grain ( r = 0.818, p  0.05). For an approximate calculation of the value of the content  -glucans in grain of genotypes of oats, you can use the formula: SBG = grain, g/cm 3 ; SBG is relative content of  -glucans in the grain, %; 4.16 is a coefficient of transition from the grain densities to the values of  -glucans. Minimum content of  -glucans in grain (3.2-3.8 %) and the lowest grain density (1.05- 1.10 g/cm 3 ) were observed in the accessions Pushkinskii, Hondai 8473 and Privet. Maximum values of  -glucan content and grain density (5.7-6.7 % and 1.26-1.31 g/cm 3 , respectively) were recorded in the accessions Pomor, Haruaoba and Marion. As a result, a rapid method was offered for evaluation of oat genotypes, which makes it possible to divide accessions into two contrasting groups: with max- imum and minimum content of  -glucans in grain, considerably differing in both chemical and physical parameters. This method does not require expensive chemical agents or complex equipment, and may be implemented in any laboratory of a typical breeding center. The effect of possible introduc-tion of the proposed technique involves saving financial and labor resources as well as avoiding com- plete grain damage, thus providing an opportunity for further utilization of the conserved breeding material in other analyses of grain for its quality.