Barley is the cornerstone of Carlsberg
The Carlsberg Research Laboratory has developed a new technology that will make future barley more sustainable, climate tolerant, and make Carlsberg’s beer taste (even) better.
Barley is one of the four main ingredients in beer. The germinated barley, called malt, contributes to the taste, colour, foam and is a source of nutrients for the yeast in the beer. Good beer requires raw materials of the best quality. And Carlsberg Research Laboratory helps to ensure that.
Sustainable barley with better taste
High-quality raw materials put demands on the farmer who grows the malting barley. However, they are not alone in this task. Carlsberg Research Laboratory helps them by diligently researching new types of barley with unique traits. Through so-called genome sequencing, it is possible to gain knowledge of all barley genes, and this knowledge can then be used to identify new and improved barley traits. Such traits are of great value in breeding, e.g., more robust climate-tolerant barley with a higher yield, better quality, and nutritional value. An ultra-fast screening technology, which has been named FIND-IT, has been developed at the Carlsberg Research Laboratory, led by the VP of Research, Birgitte Skadhauge.
It’s like working with Lego bricks. You can build a large tower with all the desired traits into one plant
Birgitte Skadhauge
"’FIND-IT’ is a new ground-breaking technology recently published in Science Advances (ed: a recognized science magazine publishing research papers and reviews), which enables us to find new, improved genetic variants in different organisms. It has helped us to improve properties in barley, wheat, rice, etc. Thus, combining several new, improved properties in ‘one variety’ is possible. It’s like working with Lego bricks. You can build a large tower with all the desired traits into one plant. It can, for example, be improvements within sustainability, quality, or taste”.
GMO technology, no thanks
FIND-IT is a classic, conventional breeding method which the laboratory uses, as Carlsberg does not use GMO methods to breed raw materials, ingredients, or yeasts. The technology has also shown great potential for other industries to develop new improved traits in other organisms.
Today, the Carlsberg Research Laboratory is researching new types of barley with special properties that can increase quality, and make them more climate tolerant, sustainable, and resistant to plant diseases:
“Plants tolerant of extreme weather conditions such as heat, or drought will help farmers to ensure a stable yield. Breeding barley plants that are less susceptible to diseases can reduce the need for plant protection agents, ultimately benefiting farmers, consumers, and most importantly, the environment,” says Birgitte Skadhauge.
The future of FIND-IT?
As for the future of the FIND-IT technology, Birgitte Skadhauge hopes to be able to apply the method to other areas than barley:
“Most of all, I wish that our FIND-IT technology in the future will find a wide global application in food production, that will help to accelerate the development of high-quality, accelerated domestication of crops, and will be used to alleviate climate-related problems. It is, of course, excellent news for Carlsberg that we now have FIND-IT for developing and refining brewing ingredients. Still, the dream scenario is that others can benefit from the technology on a larger scale.”
To initiate the project, Carlsberg’s management has decided to invest in the company Traitomic, which will help expand the technology for everything, from tomatoes to new microbes.