In barley, the GPC (Grain Protein Content) has proved to be of great importance for both feed, food and beer production. When it comes to feed and food, a high GPC is desirable since it indicates good nutritional values, while in beer production a low and stable GPC is needed to avoid beer chill haze. In previous studies a decrease in the GPC has been seen in different accessions of barley developed at different time periods during the last 100 years. The gene family HvNAM, including the genes HvNAM1 and HvNAM2, has in previous studies been shown to be important for the remobilization of nutrients towards the grains during the senescence and thus also for the GPC. In this study, 40 Nordic accessions from different improvement groups from the end of the 19th century until today have been analyzed for polymorphism in those genes. Statistical analyses has been conducted to investigate if there are any associations between the polymorph nucleotide positions and the nutritional values of grain protein, iron and zinc contents. However, no such associations were found. Instead some correlations could be seen between the nutrient content and thousand grain weight, a relative measurement of the grain size. In conclusion, since no polymorphisms were found to be associated to the nutritional value there might instead be a correlation between the gene expression and the nutritional value. Future work should thus focus on the gene expression of HvNAM1 and HvNAM2 in Nordic accessions of barley.

Hunger is a problem faced by many people all over the world, and as the population grows, so does the need for food such as cereals. Because of this, the need for food with higher protein and nutrient content will be increasingly important. NAM-B1, a NAC-protein gene in wheat, has been shown to control the grain protein content and nutrient values, as well as senescence. In barley, two orthologous genes have been found, HvNAM1 and HvNAM2. This study focuses on Nordic barley accessions and how haplotypes of HvNAM1 and HvNAM2 correlate to the grain protein content (GPC) and nutrient content. No correlations between the different haplotypes of the HvNAM genes and the nutrient content and GPC were found. No differences in nutrient content and GPC were found in Nordic accessions originating from Sweden, Norway, Finland, or Denmark, nor were differences found for improvements status groups or for six-row barley and two-row barley. The Nordic accessions were shown to generally have high GPC when compared to control groups Karl and Lewis. However, even if the results of this study indicate that the HvNAM genes do not have major effects on the nutrient contents or GPC, Nordic barley might still be good material for plant improvement. Other factors such as other genes, environmental effects, and gene expression should therefore be investigated.