Predicting Lysine Levels in Barley by Ninhydrin Colour Reaction

Employing a method involving ninhydrin reaction, identification of improved lines of recently developed germplasm of barley, for nutritional quality has been reported. These lines exhibited higher ninhydrin color value and also lysine content compared to checks. A significant positive correlation between ninhydrin value and lysine content substantiated the value of this method to breeders, in view of it ssimplicity, involving no major equipment or reagents, for identifying thelines with higher lysine content. The selective reactivity of ninhydrin with amino groups of protein (among which are mainly the (amino groups of lysine, assuming the number of N-terminal amino groups remain unaffected) makes this method more reliable for preliminary screening of the germplasm for lysine content. Merits of this method are discussed over that of the dye binding capacity (DBC) method.