Nine new lines of barley were recommended for registration at the recent annual meeting of the Prairie Grain Development Committee.
The varieties, which the Canadian Food Inspection Agency must still approve, provide benefits such as higher yields, improved disease resistance, better straw strength and better malting profiles. They likely won’t be commercially available for two or three years.
One trait that wasn’t evident in the new varieties was improved resistance to fusarium head blight, a big problem for barley growers in the eastern Prairies.
Barley breeder Bill Legge of the Agriculture Canada research centre in Brandon said breeders have been working on fusarium resistance for about nine years.
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“It’s been a very difficult disease to deal with,” he said.
Those efforts have resulted in two new varieties in recent years – Norman and CDC Mindon – but no breakthrough varieties were up for discussion this year.
However, a number of lines that were approved are bound to catch the attention of growers and processors.
Three lines developed by Legge at the Brandon research facility were approved. They include two new two-row hulled malting barley varieties, both with a nine percent yield advantage over the check variety AC Metcalfe and similar agronomic and disease ratings.
One of the varieties, known as TRO6294 (none have yet been named), is noteworthy for a consistently higher level of malt extract than Metcalfe. The measurement determines the amount of beer produced by a bushel of barley, an important consideration for brewing companies.
“The higher that number the better, while maintaining lower protein,” Legge said.
A related variety, TRO6297, has a slightly better agronomic package than 294, and is noteworthy for its short, strong straw.
Legge’s other approved variety is HB705, a two-row hulless line that may have malting quality potential. A malting quality hulless variety would have a five to six percent malt extract advantage over hulled varieties.
“However, it’s going to take a lot of development work with industry to realize that potential,” said Legge, suggesting it could be used as a blend with hulled varieties to improve malt extract ratings.
A similar hulless variety developed by Brian Rossnagel at the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre, HB402, was also approved.
Other varieties that received thumbs up from the committee included:
- FB313, a two-row hooded forage line from Viterra with high yields, good lodging resistance and good forage quality for swath grazing.
- TRO7728, a two-row general purpose hulled variety from Viterra with high yield, superior straw strength, high test weight and high plump.
- SR420, a six-row white aleurone variety from Bryan Harvey at the U of S with high yield and good straw strength.
- BT984, a six-row white aleurone malt barley, a joint release from Busch Agricultural Resources Inc. (BARI) and North Dakota State University. It is sold in the United States under the name Stellar.
- BT980, a six-row white aleurone variety from BARI, is available in the U.S. under the name Celebration.
In addition to the new barley varieties, the committee also recommended an oat line called OT3036 that Rossnagel developed. It’s a high yielding variety with good milling yield for non-rust areas of Western Canada.
