Cereal Chem 50:243 - 254.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Amylases of Developing Wheat, Barley, and Oat Grains.

P. Meredith and L. D. Jenkins. Copyright 1973 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Four kinds of amylase activity are distinguished in the developing wheat grain, including beta-amylase. A very high level of amylase activity, determined by the amylograph, is associated with the earliest stages of development and with the outer layers of the grain. Two other activities, determined by saccharogenic breakdown of soluble starch, are distinguished by their relative thermal stabilities. During wheat grain development in three successive years, the newly described activities have presented in patterns characteristic of their cultivars. No thermostable activity remains at ripeness, but some thermolabile activity persists beyond ripeness. Similar activities are observed in barley, and in lesser degree in oats.