It is very difficult to dehusk barley and oat at lab scale for different research activities. what can be different physical and chemical method for their dehusking?
Dip the husk of barley in acetic acid then wash with sodium hydroxide
There are various methods available to dehusk.
A 20 g of grain sample of barley or oats is placed in 250 ml beaker, To which, 100 ml of an aqueous solution containing 20 ml of sodium hypochlorite solution (10% available chlorine) and 2-5 g of sodium hydroxide is added, and the whole brought gently to the boil for 3 min. After boiling the husk becomes bleached, detaches itself from the kernel, and floats to the surface. When all the husks are detached, they are decanted off and are thoroughly washed with water and dry overnight at room temperature.
Simply boiling the grains in water or soaking in a water for too long period (minimum 24 h) will also help to peal the husk content from the grains.
But all the chemical process will alter the nutrient content of materials from the original. If the sample quantity is less, manual pealing would be better.
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