Upon germination alpha-amylase activity increase. The proteases are relatively more in the germ. The lipases are responsible for the fatty acids appearing during storage of the cereals and their products.
The most attention enzymes in wheat are the amylases primarily because the effects of these enzymes so important in baking and particularly in malting and brewing.
Amylases also received attention in barley because the grain most important to brewers. Enzymes alpha and beta-amylase found in the barley grain convert starch to dextrin and maltose, resulting in a liquefied mass know as wort.
Among the carbohydrases in cereals are alpha-amylases, beta-amylases, debranching enzymes, cellulases, beta-glucanases and many glucosidases. Alpha-amylases appears to be most important carbohydrase.
Manner of harvesting and storage exert a profound influence on grain quality. In the baking industry, the alpha and beta amylase of the cereal grain play essential role. Their content in flour depends on the climatic condition during ripening and harvesting.
Grain exposed to wet conditions before harvest may exhibit signs of germination being completed, such as high content of hydrolytic enzymes. It is undesirable, particularly for breadmaking.
The flour obtained from cereals cultivated in a hot and dry climate often has a very low alpha amylase content and it deficit needs to be supplemented.
Enzymes content in cereals