Barley lines with higher grain beta glucan content identified

In recent years, there has been renewed interest in food barley due to it's health benefitting properties. Barley grain contains a polysaccharide, beta glucan, which has been shown to reduce blood cholesterol and glucose level. The varieties and some of the germplasm lines were screened for beta glucan content and promising lines were identified. Two lines namely BCU 554 and BK 306 had higher beta glucan and reasonably good protein content also.