Barley varieties and agronomy

Varieties displaying this symbol beside them are protected under the Plant Breeders Rights Act 1994.

AuthorsMatthew Gardner and Guy McMullen, NSW DPI Tamworth

GRDC code:  DAN0169, Variety Specific Agronomy Packages

Take home messages

• Commander continues to perform well in northern NSW in both yield and protein
• There are several new lines that are undergoing malt accreditation that are showing considerable promise in the region.
• Commander and these newer lines should give growers an increased chance of achieving malt specifications through improved grain size and lower grain protein levels under higher N supply.

Introduction

Barley still has an important role in northern NSW farming systems with a large potential to increase the area of barley plantings across the region. However, this would be primarily dependent on improved receival prices and varieties that reliably achieve malt classification. Since 2011 there has been 16 new barley entries submitted for malt accreditation, with six being released as commercial varieties in the past two seasons. The release of new higher-yielding malting varieties will provide industry with improved grain quality and likelihood of achieving malt specifications. Other factors that favour barley can be performance in tough seasons, tolerance to sub-soil constraints (e.g. salinity), better weed competition and its tolerance to root lesion nematodes (RLN). It should be noted that barley is a host for RLN and crop rotation is needed to reduce RLN populations below critical thresholds. Major issues that currently limit barley production are reliability of achieving malting specifications – especially grain size and protein and lodging remains a problem although there has been some improvement in some of the new lines. It should also be remembered that barley is a host of crown rot so is not a break crop for this disease.

Variety characteristics and performance

Growers now have access to a number of new varieties which have a range of improvements in yield, disease resistance and grain quality over older varieties. When choosing a variety growers and advisors need to consider the current classification of a variety – many new releases do not yet have malt accreditation, receivals at local silos needs to be checked, as well as agronomic performance. New lines with improved yield and grain size are also exhibiting lower grain protein levels increasing the likelihood of achieving malt quality in seasons such as 2012 and 2013

Commander has quickly established itself as the preferred high yielding malt variety for growers in northern NSW, representing >85% of malt barley recievals in the northern grains region. Commander is a high yielding variety that tends to have lower protein levels and improved grain size compared to Gairdner. In average to high yielding seasons there can be significant lodging issues in Commander. There are still significant areas of Gairdner under production and it is still a preferred variety for malting and brewing.

Currently there are also a number of other lines that are recently released and/or undergoing malt evaluation. Compass (WI4593), released from the University of Adelaide, is a high yielding line that performed very well in the 2012 and 2013 NVT trials through northern NSW and QLD. Compass has an early to mid-season maturity with a similar plant type to Commander but with improved straw strength. Compass appears to suit environments with 2-5 t/ha yield potential. Malt accreditation is still pending on Compass.  La Trobe (IGB1101), from Intergrain, also performed very well in many sites in the 2013 NVT. La Trobe is an early maturing line suited to the western, low rainfall regions. Similar to Hindmarsh, La Trobe performs well under terminal drought – such as in the 2013 winter season.

Table 1. Grain yield (t/ha) and percent of site mean yield (%) data from NVT sites in northern NSW and southern QLD in 2013.

State	NSW										QLD
Nearest town	North Star		Tamworth		Coonamble		Gilgandra		Tulloona		Biloela		Springsure		Brookstead		Macalister		Lundavra
Variety Name	t/ha	%	t/ha	%	t/ha	%	t/ha	%	t/ha	%	t/ha	%	t/ha	%	t/ha	%	t/ha	%	t/ha	%
Bass	3.16	114	2.80	90	4.15	127	2.72	102	2.45	92	2.74	95	2.42	93	3.20	95	3.66	94	2.16	87
Commander	3.11	112	3.45	111	3.22	99	3.17	119	3.00	112	2.84	99	2.65	102	3.74	111	4.16	107	2.84	115
Compass	3.34	121	3.61	116	3.10	95	3.42	128	3.38	127	3.34	116	2.86	110	3.82	113	4.44	115	3.23	130
Fathom	3.21	116	3.70	119	3.53	108	3.13	117	3.43	128	2.69	93	2.56	99	3.66	108	4.32	111	3.12	126
Flinders	2.69	97	3.16	102	4.08	125	2.45	92	2.22	83	2.87	100	2.52	97	3.28	97	3.64	98	2.40	97
Gairdner	2.08	75	2.92	94	2.19	67	2.28	86	2.21	83	2.75	95	2.57	99	3.03	90	3.48	90	1.91	77
Granger	2.92	106	3.25	105	3.33	102	2.42	91	2.59	97	3.06	106	2.88	111	3.44	102	4.16	107	2.40	97
Henley	2.85	103	3.21	103	3.25	100	2.64	99	2.59	97	2.86	99	2.70	104	3.08	91	3.93	101	2.41	97
Hindmarsh	3.26	118	3.39	109	3.18	98	3.03	114	3.32	124	3.18	111	2.76	106	3.36	100	4.14	107	2.89	116
La Trobe	3.33	120	3.23	104	3.08	94	2.93	110	3.00	112	3.25	113	3.07	118	3.53	105	4.24	109	2.83	114
Navigator	2.50	90	2.89	93	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Oxford	2.76	100	2.85	92	4.01	123	2.31	86	2.39	90	2.34	81	2.44	94	3.15	93	3.81	98	1.82	74
Skipper	2.81	101	3.39	109	2.49	76	3.31	124	2.99	112	3.01	105	3.04	117	3.83	114	4025	110	3.14	127
SY Rattler	2.80	101	3.12	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	2.80	97	2.75	106	3.42	102	3.93	101	-	-
Wimmera	2.68	97	2.74	88	3.30	101	2.33	87	2.79	104	2.79	97	2.47	95	3.32	98	3.75	97	2.44	99
Site Mean (t/ha)	2.77		3.11		3.26		2.67		2.67	100	2.88		2.60		3.37		3.88		2.48
CV (%)	5.87		7.87		7.28		4.81		5.75	215	6.60		6.16		3.80		3.92		5.89
Probability	<0.001		<0.001		<0.001		<0.001		<0.001		<0.001		<0.001		<0.001		<0.001		<0.001
LSD (t/ha)	0.27	10	0.41	13	0.38	12	0.23	8	0.27	-	0.30	10	0.26	10	0.20	6	0.24	6	0.24	10
Sowing Date	20-May-2013		21-Jun-2013		15-May-2013		30-May-2013		05-Jun-2013		06-May-2013		30-May-2013		20-Jun-2013		05-Jun-2013		27-May-2013

These results are from one season, in deciding on varieties for 2014 growers should consider the across season results available on the NVT website and in the 2014 NSW DPI  Winter Crop Variety Sowing Guide.

National barley agronomy trials

Trials across Australian barley growing regions were established to test the performance of new varieties under varying agronomy. In 2012 and 2013 there were 3 trials in the Western grains region, 4 trials in the Southern grains region and 2 trials in the Northern grains region annually. This paper will report on the 4 trials from the northern NSW grains region in 2012 and 2013.

In 2012 sites were located at Spring Ridge and Gurley while in 2013 sites were at Pine Ridge and Garah.

Treatments

In 2012 at Spring Ridge six varieties were trialled including, Bass, Buloke, Commander, Granger, Navigator and Wimmera. In 2012, Skipper and La Trobe were included at the Gurley site to make eight varieties. In 2013 the varieties included at both sites were Bass, Buloke, Commander, Compass , Granger, La Trobe , Navigator and Wimmera. In both years all varieties were sown with target populations of 75, 150 or 300 plants/m², which was in a factorial trial design with three N rates of 0, 30 and 90 kg N/ha, applied as urea. All N treatments were side banded at planting and no further N applications were made throughout the season.

2012 results

Commanderand Granger were the highest yielding varieties in the Spring Ridge trial with average yields across treatments of 6.3 and 6.2 t/ha, respectively (Figure 1). Bass, Navigator and Wimmera all had similar yields that were significantly higher than Buloke, which yielded 5.6 t/ha on average. There were only limited N responses observed at Spring Ridge, which is not surprising given the starting soil N being over 100 kg N/ha. Despite this, the 90 kg N/ha significantly increased grain yield for Commander and Granger compared to the 0 N rate (data not shown). There were no other significant differences observed as a result of N application at Spring Ridge (data not shown).

Figure 1. Grain yield of six barley varieties grown at populations of 75, 150 and 300 plants/m² at Spring Ridge in 2012.

Figure 1 text description:  Bass barley showed highest grain yield in the population of 300 plants/m2 at approximately 6.2t/ha and the lowest in the 75 population at approximately 5.7t/ha. Buloke barley showed the highest grain yield in the 75 population at approximately 5.95t/ha and the lowest in the 300 population at approximately 5.45t/ha. Commander barley showed the hightest grain yield in the 150 population at approximately 6.6t/ha and the lowest in the 300 population at approximately 6.0t/ha. Grange barley showed the hightest grain yield in the 75 and 150 populations which were both approximately 6.4t/ha and showed the lowest in the 300 population at approximately 6.2t/ha. Navigator barley showed the highest grain yield in the 150 population at approximately 6.2t/ha and the lowest in the 300 population at approximately 5.9t/ha. Wimmera barley showed the highest grain yield in the 75 population at approximately 5.95t/ha and the lowest in the 300 population at approximately 5.75t/ha.

Increasing plant population from 75 to 150 plants/m² increased grain yield for Bass and Navigator by 0.42 and 0.34 t/ha, respectively (Figure 1). For all other varieties there was no significant increase in grain yield achieved from higher plant populations. Increasing plant population from 150 to 300 plants/m² decreased grain yield in Navigator, Commander and Buloke by 6, 9 and 7%, respectively. For both Commander and Buloke this increase in plant population also coincided with a significant increase in the severity of lodging , which may explain some of the yield decline. The same lodging was not observed in Navigator.

The quick season varieties Skipper and La Trobe had the highest grain yields at Gurley in 2012, with 4.0 and 3.9 t/ha, respectively, while Commander achieved 3.8 t/ha. Wimmera and Navigator achieved similar yields that were greater than Buloke and Bass, which had grain yields of 3.4 and 3.3 t/ha, respectively. Granger had grain yields 1 t/ha less than that achieved by Commander and was the lowest yielding variety. This site had a moderate levels of both crown rot and Pratylenchus thornei in 2012.

Despite the target populations the actual populations achieved were 70, 125 and 210 plants/m². There was no variety interaction with plant population but 125 and 210 plants/m² resulted in grain yield increases of 0.4 and 0.6 t/ha, respectively, compared to the 70 plants/m². Skipper and La Trobe were the only two varieties to have a significant increase in grain yield between the 0 and 90 kg N/ha treatments (Figure 2). There was no significant response in any other variety to N treatments (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Grain yield of eight barley varieties grown at three N rates of 0, 30 or 90 kg N/ha at Gurley in 2012.

Figure 2 text description: Most varieties showed the hightest grain yield in the 90kg N/ha nitrogen rate. Bass and Buloke were the only two varieties which shoed the highest grain yield being the 30kg N/ha rate. All varieties showed the lowest grain yield in the 0kg N/ha. The highest grain yield was seen in the Skipper barley variety at the 90kg N/ha rate at approximately 4.3t/ha. The lowest grain yield was seen in the Grange barley variety at the 0kg N/ha rate at approximately 2.75t/ha.

The high residual N at the Spring Ridge site meant that there were no varieties with protein values under 14%, which is above the malt specifications of 12% (Table 3). Bass and Wimmerahad the highest protein with 16%, which was 2% greater than the protein achieved by Commander. Although the protein values were approximately 3% lower at Gurley there were similar trends with Bass and Wimmera having the highest protein levels. Commander and La Trobe both achieved proteins under 12% at Gurley. Navigator, Granger and Skipper appear to respond similarly in terms of the protein response to N application.

Screenings were relatively low at both sites. However, the Spring Ridge site had higher screenings than Gurley, with Granger and Wimmera actually exceeding the 7% threshold (Table 3 and 4). Granger also had the highest screenings at Gurley with 4.7%, which was significantly greater than Bass that had screenings of 2.2 and 2.6%, respectively. Under the conditions experienced at the Spring Ridge site, high residual N and hot dry finish to the season, it could be expected that the screenings in a variety such as Gairdner may have been much higher.

Bass (80.6%) had the highest retention at Spring Ridge, whilst Skipper (93.7%) had the greatest retention at Gurley. Granger and Wimmera had the lowest retention at both sites. At the Spring Ridge site the retentions of Granger and Wimmera were both below 70%. There was little variation between the other varieties. Commander and Navigator had the lowest test weights at Spring Ridge and Gurley, respectively but they were above 65 kg/hL in both instances. The test weights were similar between the two sites with the better varieties ranging between 70 and 72 kg/hL, which was above the target test weight of 65 kg/hL.

2013 results

In 2013 the recently released lines Navigator and Compass performed well with respect to yield at both sites (Table 5). The yield of Commander was slightly down at the Pine Ridge site but was competitive with the best lines at Garah. In contrast La Trobe performed better at the Pine Ridge site compared to Garah. Buloke, a southern line, performed poorly in 2013. Bass and Granger, both longer season lines, performed well at Pine Ridge but were significantly lower yielding at Garah. When averaged across all treatments, the higher yielding lines had significantly lower proteins at both sites. This meant that on average across all treatments these lines achieved malting protein targets at both sites.

Significant yield and protein responses to applied N were found at both sites in 2013 across all varieties (Table 6). At Pine Ridge yield increased by 0.22 and 0.36 t/ha for the 30 and 90 kg N/ha rates while still achieving acceptable levels of protein for malting. At Garah the yield improvement with increasing N rates was between 0.28 and 0.5 t/ha. With respect to protein levels both the control and the 30 kg N/ha were within malting specifications but the 90 kg N/ha resulted in protein levels above the 12.0% upper limit at Garah.

Yield responses to varying plant populations in 2013 were strongly dependent on variety. At Pine Ridge significant yield reductions were seen in Buloke, Commander, Skipper and Compass (Figure 3). All other varieties had no significant response to higher populations. At Garah, the longer season variety Navigator had a significant yield increase with high populations while Skipper had a significant yield decrease at the highest population targeting 300 plants/m² (data not shown).

Figure 3. Grain yield responses of 8 barley varieties to plant populations at Pine Ridge in 2013. (significant differences indicated by *)

Figure 3 text description: Bass barley showed the highest grain yield in population of 150 at approximately 5.6t/ha and the lowest in the 75 population at approximately 5.3t/ha. Buloke barley showed the highest grain yield in the 75 population at approximately 5.3t/ha and the lowest in the 300 population at approximately 4.65t/ha which was deemed significant. Commander barely showed the highest grain yield in the 150 population at approxiately 5.4t/ha and the lowest in the 300 population at approximately 4.9t/ha which was deemed significant. Grange barely showed the highest grain yield in the 300 population at approximately 5.5t/ha and the lowest in the 150 population at approximately 5.2t/ha. La Trobe barley showed the highest grain yield in the 300 population at approximately 5.7t/ha and the lowest in the 75 population at approximately 5.5t/ha. Navigator barley showed the highest grain yield in the 300 population at approximately 5.8t/ha and the lowest in the 75 population at approximately 5.5t/ha. Skipper barley showed the highest grain yield in the 75 population at approximately 5.5t/ha and the lowest in the 300 population at approximately 5.0t/ha which was deemed significant. Compass barely showed the highest grain yield in the 150 population at approximately 5.85t/ha and the lowest in the 300 population at approximately 5.2t/ha which was deemed significant. Significant differences were only seen in the 300 populations in the Buloke, Commander, Skipper and Compass barely varieties.

Conclusions

Commander continues to perform well in the region in terms of both grain yield and quality. Compass has performed very strongly and appears to have improved straw strength. La Trobe (IGB1101) and Skipper appear to be quick maturing varieties for consideration in the future which is currently a gap for growers in the region. Navigator has also performed well as a longer season malt option and is the most advanced in the malt accreditation process. Apart from Commander, all these recently released lines are still undergoing malt accreditation.

Acknowledgments

The Variety Specific Agronomy Project (DAN00169) is a partnership between NSW DPI and GRDC. The trials would not have been possible without the valuable input of growers and advisors at each location. The trials and data collection were managed by Stephen Morphett, Jim Perfrement, Patrick Mortell, Peter Formann, Jan Hoskings and Rod Bambach (all NSW DPI).

Contact details

Dr Guy McMullen

NSW DPI

Ph: 02 6763 115502 6763 1155 02 6763 115502 6763 1155 02 6763 115502 6763 1155 02 6763 115502 6763 1155
Email: guy.mcmullen@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Reviewed by

Dr Steven Simpfendorfer