Manitoba, Canada
Barley development (Six-row) and production in Manitoba
M.C. Therrien
Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Brandon Research Centre
Barley Production
The last three years has seen some dramatic shifts in
barley production and development in Manitoba. Traditionally, Manitoba produced
c. 1.2 million acres of barley grain, with around 40% destined for malt plants.
With the epidemic presence of Fusarium, and associated mycotoxins, production
dropped from an average 1.2 million ac, in 1996, to 900,000 ac in 1999, to
an all-time low of 700,000 ac in 2000. The crop has rebounded somewhat in
2001, with some 840,000 ac harvested. The cost of damage from Fusarium has
cost this province well in excess of 1 billion $ Cdn, to date. The sectors
most affected include the malting and brewing, as well as the pork production,
industries.
This has led to a shift in both the types and end-use
of barley grown in the region. From 1998 to 2001, two-row barley, mainly
malting cultivars, has dramatically increased from 15% to 44% of the (crop
insured) acreage in Manitoba. This is mainly due to the increased tolerance
to Fusarium found in most two-row genotypes. Accordingly, six-row barley
production has dropped from 74% to 52%. Furthermore, of the 52% grown in
2001, more than two-thirds of that acreage was sown deliberately for use
as feed or forage. There is also an estimated (uninsured, non-certified)
200,000 acres of six-row barley sown strictly for forage. Hulless barley
production demonstrated the most dramatic drop from 11% to less than 1% in
just four years. The combination of mycotoxins, inexpensive feed wheat, and
relatively poor performance has all but eliminated this once-promising crop.
This was in spite of a dramatic increase in hog production from 200,000 to
3,000,000 head in the same time period.
The changing landscape for barley utilization has necessitated
a change in the breeding effort at Brandon. Where, once, grain production
was the mainstay of the region, the shift to livestock production has created
greater demand for feed grains. The main economic sector for agriculture
in Manitoba, for instance, is now livestock production and non-traditional
crops. It has become impractical to produce malting barley in the region
due to mycotoxin contamination, even for two-row varieties, in some areas.
Six-row and Hulless Barley Development
1.Six-row Malting Barley
The future of the six-row malting program at Brandon is
uncertain. A combination of funding issues and the relative lack of progress
(in obtaining low mycotoxin lines) has resulted in a much-reduced program
that will be reviewed annually for feasibility and potential termination.
2.Six-row Forage Barley
There is strong support from industry for the expansion
of this program. The beef and dairy industries are expanding steadily, and
are expected to continue this trend for some time. Consequently, the largest
portion of our efforts is devoted to forage barley development. The industry
is looking for a barley variety that stands well under high fertility, has
excellent foliar disease resistance, can be ensiled, put up as hay or grain,
and has a forage quality that is sufficient for dairy rations. The Brandon
program is well on its way to meeting industry needs with the recent release
of 'AC Ranger' six-row forage barley. AC Ranger meets most of the criteria
favoured by industry and is expected to do well in the marketplace. We are
evaluating a number of new advanced lines that show promise in improving
those key traits found in AC Ranger.
3.Hulless Feed Barley
This class of barley is in direct competition with feed
wheat and corn, as a primary hog ration. The low cost of competing commodities,
along with mycotoxin production and a relatively poor agronomic performance,
has caused hulless feed barley to lose favour with producers. Therefore,
the program has had to 'shift gears' and place much greater emphasis on low
mycotoxin production (less than 1 ppm) and a yield level that out-competes
feed wheat (greater than 100 bu/ac, in Manitoba). This is expected
to be a long-term effort, given the level of improvement required over current
varieties. The program, currently, does not have any material that approaches
the target trait levels.
4.Hulless Food Barley
This is the newest effort at Brandon, being about seven
years in the making. The key emphasis in this effort is in finding lines
that show very low levels of mycotoxin, under moderate Fusarium infection
rates, as well as kernel starch and protein characteristics that will produce
high quality food products. These products would include snack chips, flat
breads, noodles, and wheat flour enrichment. We are using exclusively two-row
hulless barley sources, owing to their uniform kernels (for milling) and
innate propensity for low mycotoxin accumulation. We have made good progress
in the identification of low-mycotoxin lines with flour characteristics suitable
for food production. An inaugural cultivar could be released within the next
five years.
Fusarium Research
The research efforts at Brandon is part of a much larger
effort that involves researchers from Canada and the U.S., and from government
institutions, universities, and private industry. Six breeding programs are
involved from both countries. In spite of the fact that Fusarium resistance
(in barley), as well as mycotoxin accumulation, are complex issues, significant
progress has been made in the last three years. Low mycotoxin accumulation,
under severe disease pressure, has been detected in a few lines from all
of the contributing breeding programs in 2001. This will be confirmed in
2002. Those lines with low (trace) mycotoxin levels will be advanced to co-operative
registration trials. Our program has two promising lines, a six-row hulless
and a six-row forage type.
Other Research Efforts
We are involved in a number of research efforts in support
of breeding programs. These are summarized, along with collaborating institutions:
- Determining characteristics in hulless barley that contribute to food
production and development of protocols for predicting food quality traits
(AAFC Cereal Research Centre; Crop Development Centre)
- Determining functionality and health benefits of barley-based food
products in clinical trials (AAFC Cereal Research Centre; University of Manitoba)
- A rapid assay for quantifying beta-glucans in barley (AAFC Cereal Research
Centre)
- The role of myccorhysal fungi in barley production (AAFC Saskatoon
Research Centre)
- Effect of hog manure over-utilization on performance and quality of
barley cultivars (AAFC Brandon)
- Digital plant breeding tools (AAFC Brandon)
- Weed competitiveness in barley (AAFC Brandon)