Micronutrient malnutrition is one of the most outstanding problems affecting billions of people, especially in the developing countries leading to poor health conditions. The locus NAM-1 or grain protein content-1 (GPC -1) affects the seed size and nutrient content and also has a role in senescence in wheat and barley. The non-functional allele of this gene increases the seed size but at the expense of protein and micronutrient content.

The NAM-B1 is a wild type allele in wheat that encodes a transcription factor of the NAC family. It accelerates the maturity and helps in increasing the mobilization of nutrients from leaves to developing grains. The modern wheat crops contain a non-functional NAM-B1 allele that delays the maturity and results in higher yields but also leads to a decrease in the protein, iron and zinc contents in the grains. Therefore, the selection for yield leads to a reduction in nutritious quality 

GPC is an important factor in the quality of cereals and also play a significant role in malting and brewing process. The single gene Gpc1 has multiple pleiotrophic effects  which are special characteristics of NAC transcription factors. The effects were found to be essential in developmental processes, auxin signalling, defense mechanism, abiotic stress response and leaf senescence. T he function of NAM-B1 gene was thought to be lost during the domestication of wheat.

The aim of the study was (i) to find out when does the selection for yield occurs in barley either during the early domestication or later, during modern plant improvement ? (ii) to study whether the wild type allele still exists in 19^th century of landrace barley (iii) to measure the micronutrient concentration in the Scandinavian landrace and cultivars from different time periods of barley.