Starch digestibility and bioactivity of high altitude hulless barley.

This study was aimed at evaluating the effects of growth altitude (97-3500m) on the starch digestibility and bioactivity of hulless barley cultivars grown in India. All the high altitude cultivars (between 1200 and 3500m above sea level) displayed 7.5-30.8% higher levels of total β-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 (97-126m altitude). The soluble β-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 β-glucan and total arabinoxylan content was observed. Cultivars grown at higher altitudes exhibited higher bioactive potential and may find better utilization in nutraceutical foods.