Application of the Falling Number Method in the Evaluation of the α-Amylase Activity of Malt Flour

The Falling Number (FN) test is not suitable for the determination of α-amylase activity in malt flour because the amylolytic activity is too high to be determined by the FN instrument. The aim of this study was to modify the FN method to allow quantification of high α-amylase activity in malt flour. The modifications were performed in two ways: using different amounts of malt flour (0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 g) or by using malt extracts (0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 mL). In both cases, 6 g of standard wheat starch was used as substrate. The results of the modified methods were compared with the α-amylase activity determined by the standard Ceralpha method. Linear and nonlinear exponential regression was used to calculate the predicted amylase activity, and Bland-Altman analysis was used to measure the agreement between standard and modified methods. The modifications of the FN method using 0.1 g of malt flour showed that the modified method was able to accurately measure high levels of α-amylase activity in malt flour, and the results obtained by the modified method were in agreement with the results obtained by the standard Ceralpha method.