Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grain is the main raw material in brewing industry, because beer taste and production process depend on barley grain qualitative indices. One of the barley grain’s qualitative indices is grain sprouting activity. There have been numerous researches that showed the effects of selenium (Se) on hull-less barley sprouting activity and positive influence on biologically active substances and high vitamins concentration in grain (Dūma et al., 2002), but hull-less barley is not widely used. The aim of this study was to explore the influence of different selenium concentrations on the barley grains sprouting activity and content of total phenols. Barley with grain viability of 92% have been soaked in diverse solutions (Se concentration 0.5 mg LE-1 – 10 mg LE-1) for 12 hours, then the grain sprouted at the temperature of +18±2 °C for 5 days and dried in the oven for 48 hours at a temperature of +50 °C. After sprouting, the sprouting activity of the grain was determined, but total phenols amount was determined after grain desiccation. The obtained results showed that the increase in selenium concentration in a solution increased barley grain sprouting activity from 16.3% (0.5 mg LE-1) to 27.9% (10 mg LE-1), but the amount of total phenols decreased.

Selenium (Se) is an essential microelement for human health; it is not synthesized in human body and cannot be substituted by any other element. Many health problems have a link with Se deficiency. People need to obtain all necessary amounts of selenium with food. Cereal products are important components of our diets and can contribute comparatively large part of the total dietary intake of Se. The wheat grains growing in Latvia contain comparatively small amount of selenium - on average 0.04 mg kgE-1. The objective of this study was to investigate the possibilities of fortifying wheat grains with microelement selenium during soaking grains in selenium containing solutions. Wheat grain was soaked in sodium selenite and sodium selenate solutions with selenium concentration from 10 to 200 mg lE-1. Sprouting activity was determined after 24, 72 and 120 hours, the influence of selenium valence in compound was observed. Comparing the influence of Se**+4 and Se**+6, it can be concluded that Se**+4 does not promote sprouting activity of wheat grains position to Se**+6 which increases sprouting activity till selenium concentration 100 mg lE-1. Uptake of selenium in grains was studied by determination of total Se using atomic absorption spectroscopy method. Linear correlation between Se concentrations in applied soaking solutions and Se concentration in grains was observed. The content of total protein did not change significantly - it varied from 13.64% in the control sample to 13.87% in the wheat sample with the highest applied selenium concentration (200 mg lE-1).