Barley varieties and their management

Background

Barley is the second most important winter cereal in northern NSW and Queensland. Historically about 30% of this production meets malt specifications, predominantly domestic malt, while 70% is used as feed. Barley production will need to increase significantly in the future to meet projected end use demand. The continued growth in the feedlot and pork industry in northern NSW and Queensland will also drive demand for quality feed barley. The concentration of domestic brewing operations in southern Queensland will further develop a market for domestic malt which will require consistent production and grain quality. The relatively small export malt market demand may also increase in the future with new varieties becoming available and more flexible marketing arrangements.

There has recently been major changes in the structure of barley breeding in Australia and also the relatively new NVT system. These changes may reduce the amount of time that it takes for new varieties to become available to growers but could restrict local agronomic information at the time of release. Since 2002 there have been 15 new varieties (8 feed and 7 malt) released nationally, with varying improvements in yield, disease resistance and malting quality over the standard varieties.

GRDC has recently funded barley agronomy projects in each of its panel areas. Each of these projects aims to assist in the uptake of appropriate new barley varieties that deliver both yield and quality to benefit growers and end-users. In the northern region the project is a collaboration between QLD DPI&F and NSW DPI.

Variety characteristics and performance

·         Capstan High yielding feed variety with mid to late maturity. Capstan has excellent grain yield potential, broad adaptation in medium to high rainfall environments and is resistant to CCN while being moderately susceptible to leaf scald, powdery mildew, leaf rust and spot form of net blotch. Capstan has short, stiff straw with excellent head retention and would be suitable for growers targeting very high potential yields.

·         NRB03470 A high yielding quick maturing line which will be go into commercial malt evaluation in 2008. NRB03470 has moderate levels of foliar disease resistance and maintains very good grain size across the region.

·         Fitzroy (VB9926). A high yielding medium to medium late maturing malting variety with improved disease resistance over Gairdner, and excellent grain size. Fitzroy is a semi dwarf plant with good seedling vigour, is of medium height and has good straw strength. Fitzroy is best suited to the northern NSW and Queensland barley growing areas. Best results will be achieved in more favourable environments where it should outperform Gairdner as a malting variety. Fitzroy has improved levels of disease resistance compared to Gairdner to all foliar diseases except powdery mildew where it is equal.

·         Fleet (WI3804) Fleet is a new CCN resistant feed barley developed by the University of Adelaide. Fleet exhibits an excellent disease resistance profile, good physical grain quality, and a 5% yield advantage over Barque, the current dominant feed variety in southern Australia. In northern NSW and southern QLD Fleet has shown weak straw in some high yielding situations. Fleet is available through ABB Grain and the Australian Field Crops Association (AFCA).

·         Grout (NRB01001) Grout is a high yielding, quick maturing variety with improved grain size, suited to the northern NSW and Queensland grain growing regions. Exhibits excellent grain size and maintains this grain size advantage in both high and low yielding conditions. It is a quick maturing variety with a vigorous seedling and high tillering ability with erect growth habit. Grout is semi tall with moderate levels of standability, better than Grimmett and similar to Mackay. Grout has good levels of resistance to the major foliar diseases encountered in the northern grain growing region, particularly powdery mildew, net form of net blotch and leaf rust.

·         Hindmarsh(VB0324). Semi-dwarf Dash derivative with excellent grain plumpness and high hectolitre weight. Early maturing, high yielding feed variety suited to low-medium rainfall environments. Hindmarsh has performed well across a wide range of sites in QLD, NSW, Vic and SA. Resistant to CCN, powdery mildew, leaf scald and NFNB. Susceptible to SFNB. It is expected that Hindmarsh will enter into malt accreditation in 2008 with provisional classification in 2009 depending on commercial scale testiog. Bred by Vic DPI, Hindmarsh is available through AWB Seeds.

·         WI3416 is a medium maturing line which has shown very good yield potential and grain size. It has good levels of foliar disease resistance, it is a taller type and has weaker straw than Gairdner and Fitzroy. WI3416 is currently under going commercial malt evaluation.

 

Table 1: Across sites and years analysis for yield in main season trials in NE and NW zones of NSW.

 

Table 2: Grain yield data (% of trial mean) from selected NVT sites in northern NSW and southern QLD in 2007.

	NSW				QLD
	N/E		N/W		SEQ		SWQ
Variety	Tamw’th	Yallaroi	Tulloona	Goon’la	Oakey	Dalby	Chinch.	Goondi.
Binalong	93	85	90	69	66	80	83	80
Fitzroy	96	90	98	82	88	74	78	79
Flagship	97	115	74	109	119	109	116	112
Fleet	107	134	124	115	103	113	115	129
Gairdner	87	64	70	71	111	84	86	114
Grimmett	95	85	88	52	92	106	113	80
Grout	109	121	112	148	123	129	128	104
Hindmarsh	118	126	118	145	127	119	113	129
Kaputar	96	100	96	123	88	103	108	99
Mackay	107	78	88	61	101	108	120	90
Roe	109	118	130	135	118	128	128	97
Skiff	90	116	77	125	123	109	96	116
Vlamingh	106	95	101	90	91	111	105	108
Site Mean (t/ha)	5.71	1.06	3.23	1.24	1.08	2.38	2.93	1.55
CV (%)	4.55	7.88	5.76	8.70	10.70	7.63	9.23	11.00
LSD (%)	8	13	9	15	18	12	15	17

 

Table 3: Grain quality data (screenings <2.2mm and retention >2.5 mm sieves) from selected NVT sites in northern grains region in 2007.

	NSW				QLD
	N/E		N/W		SWQ		SEQ
	Tamworth		Tulloona		Chinchilla		Oakey
Variety	<2.2 mm	>2.5 mm	<2.2 mm	>2.5 mm	<2.2 mm	>2.5 mm	<2.2 mm	>2.5 mm
Binalong	37.2	18.6	30.4	19.5	32.9	3.9	2.3	33.2
Fitzroy	19.1	42.6	12.1	52.2	35.5	10.2	0.5	57.5
Flagship	11.4	50.0	8.3	64.4	32.9	2.0	0.6	50.3
Fleet	4.8	77.1	8.4	55.3	4.5	23.3	0.4	79.2
Gairdner	41.8	15.5	9.2	38.2	49.2	4.6	1.1	19.8
Grimmett	18.4	36.8	7.8	52.3	25.7	6.0	1.6	32.0
Grout	9.6	58.1	10.0	48.8	18.9	4.9	1.3	16.6
Hannan	5.8	67.6	9.4	59.4	26.3	5.0	0.2	64.0
Hindmarsh	5.6	70.2	8.0	63.4	16.9	5.2	1.0	55.4
Kaputar	23.8	20.2	48.6	9.2	32.0	4.1	2.0	13.5
Mackay	25.1	27.3	16.1	22.9	36.3	1.9	1.5	36.1
Roe	4.6	84.1	3.8	81.6	2.5	44.3	0.3	80.5
Skiff	42.1	11.3	36.0	9.5	41.3	3.0	1.0	19.9
Vlamingh	7.0	58.1	4.1	67.6	12.6	6.9	0.9	68.9

 

2007 Agronomy Trials

In 2007 a range of trials were established to investigate the performance of standard varieties, recently released lines and elite material from the nodes of Barley Breeding Australia.

 

Table 4: 2007 Barley agronomy trials and locations.

Results

Planting Date and Nitrogen Management

Marketing of barley grain, especially for malt markets, is strongly dependent on grain quality characteristics. In some cases it may be more economically viable to target high yielding feed varieties. A series of trials were established to investigate varietal interactions with N management and planting date.

 

Table 5: Effect of N management on grain yield (t/ha) (results averaged across varieties).

 

Table 6: Effect of planting time on grain yield (t/ha) from N management trials (yield averaged across N treatments.

When considering the results from N management trials it is important to consider the influence that both yield and quality have on the final gross margin, especially when comparing feed and malt varieties. This comparison will be available at the Update.

Planting Depth

Timely planting is a key component of optimising grain yield and quality. In some seasons, moisture seeking or deep sowing is a tool that growers use to ensure timely planting. There is a significant level of variation between the coleoptile length of barley varieties, an important factor in emerging from depth (Figure 1).

 

 

 

Figure 1: Effect of seed source and seed treatment with triadimenol on coleoptile length of a range of barley varieties harvested from 2 sites (Donna Hocroft, QLD DPI&F).

 

There are a range of factors that determine the ability of a plant to emerge from deep sowing including seed size, seed source, seed treatments, soil condition and temperature can all play an important role. Some of the effects of deep sowing can be delayed emergence, poor establishment, reduced early vigour, increased disease susceptibility or reduced grain yield.

In 2007 a series of preliminary trials were sown to investigate the ability of some varieties to emerge from 3 planting depths. Despite poor plant establishment at some sites deeper plantings did not results in large yield reductions in 2/3 trials (Table 7). The compensatory capacity of barley enabled yield potential to be maintained in 2007, even at high yielding sites.

 

Table 7: Effect of planting depth on grain yield in northern NSW and southern QLD.

Planting Depth (cm)	Breeza	Yallaroi	Hermitage
5	4.08	1.75	4.96
10	4.14	1.77	4.91
15	3.88	1.72	5.01

 

The effect of grazing on grain recovery from a range of barley and wheat varieties was assessed in 2007. There was no interaction between grazing and grain recovery, even in short season varieties. Grain yield loss was greater at later plantings with no significant decline in early sown crops (Figure 2).

 

 

Figure 2: Effect of planting time and grazing on grain recovery of barley (averaged across varieties)

 

Contact details

Dr. Guy McMullen

NSW DPI

Ph: 02 6763 1100

Email: guy.mcmullen@dpi.nsw.gov.au

 

John Sturgess

DPI&F (Qld)

Ph: 07 4660 3614

Email: john.sturgess@dpi.qld.gov.au

 

Kym McIntyre

DPI&F (Qld)

Ph: 07 46603611