Starch digestibility and bioactivity of high altitude hulless barley

This study was aimed at evaluating the effects of growth altitude (97-3500 m) on the starch digestibility and bioactivity of hulless barley cultivars grown in India. All the high altitude cultivars (between 1200 and 3500 m above sea level) displayed 7.5-30.8% higher levels of total beta-glucan, 39.8-68.6% higher arabinoxylan content, 11.0-60.9% higher total anthocyanin content and 16.6-43.2% higher metal chelating activity than the cultivars grown in plains (97-126 m altitude). The soluble beta-glucan and arabinoxylan content of cultivars ranged from 2.0% to 2.8% and 0.08% to 0.19%. A positive correlation between slowly digestible starch (SDS) and insoluble beta-glucan and total arabinoxylan content was observed. Cultivars grown at higher altitudes exhibited higher bioactive potential and may find better utilization in nutraceutical foods. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.