The Korean Journal of Crop Science ISSN:0252-9777(Print) 2287-8432(Online) 한국작물학회지

The purposes of this study were to determine how changes in temperature affect germination rates and growth of hulled and dehulled barley, malting barley, and naked oat plants, and to measure chlorophyll content, photosynthetic efficiency, and secondary compounds (total phenol, total flavonoid, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity) in plants grown at 13°C or 25°C). Various types of barley seeds were collected from areas with ideal conditions for barley cultivation, hereinafter referred to as IA, and also from areas where barley cultivation is more difficult due to lower temperatures, hereinafter referred to as LTA. Seeds were tested for seed vigor. While there were significant differences in the electrical conductivity values between seeds collected from certain specific areas, no significant differences were evident between IA and LTA seeds, regardless of the type of barley seed. When plants were grown at 25°C, there were no significant differences in germination rates, plant height, root length and shoot fresh weight between plants originating from IA and LTA. However, there were differences in the measured parameters of some specific seeds. Similarly, under the low temperature condition of 13°C, no differences in the emergence rate, plant height, and shoot fresh weight were evident between plants originating from IA or LTA, regardless of the type of barley. However, there were differences between some specific seeds. One parameter that did vary significantly was the emergence date. Hulled barley and malting barley emerged 5 days after sowing, whereas naked oats emerged 7 days after sowing. There were no differences in the chlorophyll content and photosynthetic efficacy, regardless of the type of barley. There were no significant differences in total phenol, total flavonoid content, and DPPH radical scavenging activity between plants originating from IA and LTA, regardless of the type of barley. However, there were differences between some specific seeds. In particular, for malting barley the total flavonoid content differed in the order of Gangjin > Changwon > Haenam = Jeonju > Naju. The results indicate that crop growth, yield and content of secondary compounds in various types of barley may be affected by climate change.