Breeding of lipoxygenase-1-less malting barley variety 'SouthernStar' and evaluation of malting and brewing quality

The lipoxygenase-1-null (LOX-less) trait has positive effects on beer quality, and in particular, improvement of flavor stability by reduction of beer deteriorating substances such as trans-2-nonenal (T2N). 'SouthernStar' was successfully developed as the first LOX-less malting barley variety in Australia by introducing LOX-less trait into 'Flagship' by successive backcross and molecular marker assisted selection (MMAS). 'Flagship' is a two-rowed malting barley variety in Australia and it was used as the recurrent parent for the successive backcrossing. The yield potential, agronomic performance, disease resistance and the general malting quality were almost identical between 'SouthernStar' and 'Flagship'. To evaluate effects of LOX-less trait on beer quality, the brewing trials were conducted using a pilot-scale brewing apparatus. The wort and beer quality were similar between 'SouthernStar' and 'Flagship'. The effect of the LOX-less trait on the reduction of beer deteriorating substances such as T2N and trihydroxyoctadecenoic acid (THOD) contents was clearly verified in this study. The scores for total staleness of the test beers were significantly lower than those of the control beers under several storage conditions in one trial.