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Barley—a Versatile Crop for Innovative and Sustainable Food Production (2nd...
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Barley—a Versatile Crop for Innovative and Sustainable Food Production (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Physiology and Crop Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2026 | Viewed by 483

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jasmina Lukinac

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Faculty of Food Technology Osijek, J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Interests: food technology; novel foods; functional food; food byproducts; acorn; machine vision; image analysis (food, beverage, plant, and grain crop quality); mathematical modeling and optimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Marko Jukić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Food Technologies, Faculty of Food Technology Osijek, J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Interests: food technology; functional food; acorn; food rheology; cereal technology; analytical and rheological characterization of flour and cereal-based products; development of cereal-based functional foods; mechanisms of bread staling; nutritional quality of cereals and cereal products; application of food industry byproducts
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce this Special Issue, Barley—a Versatile Crop for Innovative and Sustainable Food Production (2nd Edition)", which aims to advance our understanding of barley cultivars, their properties, and their applications in sustainable food systems.

Barley is one of the world’s most adaptable and valuable crops, playing a pivotal role in agriculture, brewing, and the food industry. As global attention increasingly turns to sustainable production and functional foods, barley offers remarkable potential due to its diverse nutritional profile, health-promoting compounds, and technological versatility.

This Special Issue seeks to explore recent advances in the quality evaluation, processing, and application of barley and barley-based products. By integrating insights from agronomy, food technology, nutrition, and consumer science, this collection aims to support innovative uses of barley in sustainable food production.

We invite original research articles, reviews, and case studies that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Barley breeding for improved food quality and sensory attributes;
  • Novel approaches to evaluating the nutritional composition of barley cultivars;
  • Barley as a functional food ingredient and dietary solution;
  • Applications of barley in traditional and innovative food products;
  • Quality assessment methods for barley-based products and beverages;
  • Barley bioactive compounds and their health benefits;
  • Advances in brewing and malting quality for high-quality malt beverages;
  • Analytical techniques for detecting contaminants in barley products;
  • Barley quality in the context of sustainability and environmental impact;
  • Understanding consumer preferences and market trends for barley products;
  • Case studies on successful quality assessment strategies in the barley industry.

These areas encompass the broad potential of barley—from its functional and nutritional properties to its role in sustainability, waste valorization, and breeding strategies aimed at improving food quality.

We welcome contributions that foster innovation and deepen our understanding of barley’s multifaceted applications. By sharing cutting-edge research, this Special Issue aims to promote the development of high-quality, sustainable barley-based foods and beverages and to strengthen the scientific foundations for their production and commercialization.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions in this innovative field of research.

Sincerely,

Prof. Dr. Jasmina Lukinac
Prof. Dr. Marko Jukić
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • barley
  • sustainable food production
  • cultivar breeding
  • nutritional composition
  • functional food ingredient
  • quality assessment
  • bioactive compounds
  • brewing and malting
  • environmental impact
  • consumer preferences

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 3066 KB  
Article
Activity-Based Profiling of Papain-like Cysteine Proteases in Different Plant Organs During Barley Development
by Igor A. Schepetkin and Andreas M. Fischer
Plants 2026, 15(10), 1523; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15101523 - 16 May 2026
Viewed by 195
Abstract
Papain-like cysteine proteases (PLCPs) are vital enzymes involved in plant development, acting as key regulators of processes such as seed germination, nutrient mobilization, senescence, and programmed cell death. In the present study, we analyzed active PLCPs in various barley organs, including roots, leaves, [...] Read more.
Papain-like cysteine proteases (PLCPs) are vital enzymes involved in plant development, acting as key regulators of processes such as seed germination, nutrient mobilization, senescence, and programmed cell death. In the present study, we analyzed active PLCPs in various barley organs, including roots, leaves, stems, and seeds at different stages of plant development. Protein extracts obtained from barley samples (4-day-old seedlings; plants at 2, 4, 7, and 11 weeks after sowing; developing seeds from 11-week-old plants; and mature dry seeds) were subjected to anion-exchange chromatography. Fractions containing active PLCPs were pooled, biotinylated using the DCG-04 probe, affinity-purified using streptavidin-agarose, and subsequently analyzed via SDS-PAGE. Bands corresponding to biotinylated PLCPs (detected using streptavidin-peroxidase and a chemiluminescent substrate) were excised from the gel and analyzed by tandem mass spectrometry, enabling the identification of up to 23 distinct PLCPs belonging to nine known PLCP subfamilies. Among the identified PLCPs, HvPap-6 from the L-like D subfamily proved to be the most abundant across all barley samples. In seedlings, B-like and L-like D proteases constituted the largest proportion of all PLCP classes, and their levels continued to increase as the plants developed. Although the relative abundance of L-like B and L-like C proteases was high in seedlings, their levels declined in the roots and leaves of developing plants, as three PLCPs from the L-like B subfamily were identified only during the seedling stage. These results suggest that L-like B and L-like C proteases play an important role in seed germination and seedling development. Organ-specific expression was also observed for certain PLCPs: HvPap-26 from the L-Like C subfamily was identified only in the shoots and roots of seedlings; four PLCPs of the L-like E subfamily were detected solely in the roots, whereas two other proteases from this subfamily were identified exclusively in the leaves and shoots under our experimental conditions. Thus, our results suggest that certain active PLCPs are organ-specific, and that the relative importance of identified PLCPs varies within these organs during plant development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Barley—a Versatile Crop for Innovative and Sustainable Food Production (2nd Edition))
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