Manitoba, Canada

Barley Production and Development in Manitoba

Mario C. Therrien

AAFC Brandon Research Centre

Brandon, MB. Canada R7A 5Y3

mtherrien@agr.gc.ca

Barley Production in Manitoba in 2005:

Barley production was difficult to gauge in 2005 due to some fundamental changes in crop production in Manitoba. Several years of adverse weather, the persistence of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), and low commodity prices have shifted the cultivar spectrum and primary production areas of barley in the province. Most of the production has moved to the western and northern growing areas in Manitoba and has shifted to supporting the increasingly larger livestock industry. Variety information is now only available on crop-insured acreage and through a volunteer survey of permit holders for the Canadian Wheat Board. There were approximately 615,000 insured acres of barley in Manitoba – down significantly from the c. 800,000 acres reported in the late 1990’s. Of these insured acres, approximately 70% was sown to two-row varieties, ending the long-held dominance of six-rowed varieties in this province. The shift is attributed mainly to the reduced susceptibility of two-rowed cultivars to FHB. Most of the reported varieties were malting types, although less than 5% were accepted for malting status by the industry in Manitoba in 2005. Because of this, and expanding livestock industry, insured acres of barley are expected to drop further, along with the amount of malting barley grown in the province.

There is indirect evidence to suggest that upwards of over 200,000 additional acres of barley are grown in Manitoba that are uninsured, grown from bin-run feed and forage barley varieties, and fed mainly to beef cattle – Manitoba’s largest farm sector. Seed sales suggest this is a growing trend as barley is a highly cost-effective annual forage and FHB-infected grain is not an issue for beef cattle.

A new 5-year producer check-off agreement and resultant changes to the breeding program:

Over the last decade, the volunteer producer check-off (on malting barley sales), administered by the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), has been a major source of financial support for the barley breeding effort at Brandon. The new agreement continues to provide major support for the program, but with some changes in direction and emphasis. The new agreement continues to fund the two-row malting and two-row hulless food efforts at historical levels. A six-row row malting program has been added and the two-row feed effort has been expanded. The forage and hulless feed efforts have been reduced and the six-row feed program has been eliminated. Since malting barley sales revenues have dropped, the research component of the (former) agreement could no longer be funded. As well, funding for FHB research and evaluation had to be reduced. Thus, the current program will be devoted primarily to cultivar development and ancillary support systems (viz. pathology and cereal chemistry).

Program highlights – 2005:

Two-row malting barley: This program is run by Dr. W.G. (Bill) Legge and focuses on developing cultivars suited to Prairie-Parkland conditions of western Canada for both the domestic and export malt market. Recent releases include AC Metcalfe, AC Bountiful, Newdale and Calder. AC Metcalfe has become a very successful variety, being the most widely grown barley cultivar in Canada and being successfully commercialized in the U.S., as well. AC Bountiful is a nice market variety with limited sales and Newdale and Calder are recent introductions that are still undergoing pilot-scale testing and development. Both are showing promise for full commercial production. The newest efforts are producing lines with AC Metcalfe malting quality with better FHB resistance and lower DON mycotoxin levels. Hopefully, this will result in a new cultivar for release in the next 5-7 years.

Two-row feed barley: This program will be jointly run with Drs. Legge and the author (Therrien). The program will be divided into three sectors. The first will utilize high-yielding “failed” malting varieties developed from Dr. Legge’s program. One such variety, Rivers, is now in commercial production. The second will use two-row lines derived from Dr. Therrien’s two x six row germplasm development program; a number having reached advanced testing. The third (new) component will combine material from both efforts and include the low phytic acid and low dry matter disappearance traits in new high performance two-row feed cultivars. The initial phase is expected to take 5 years to complete.

Two-row hulless food barley: This effort, led by Dr. Therrien, has produced the first Canadian milling barley, Millhouse, which will be officially released in the Spring of 2006. Millhouse can be combined with wheat flour to produce noodles and breadstuffs without altering the flavour and texture of the finished product, while enhancing healthful ingredients, including dietary fibre and anti-oxidants. The current effort seeks to improve on Millhouse agronomic performance while maintaining quality. A new food quality evaluation lab has been developed to support this effort.

Six-row malting barley: This effort is a continuation of the six-row malting breeding program initiated in Brandon in 1932 and is, therefore, the oldest (original) program in Brandon. The current effort is aimed at developing cultivars that are acceptable to the U.S. market (sole source) and can demonstrate good agronomic performance both in western Canada and the U.S. Upper Midwest. As well, there is an effort to reduce the level of DON as part of the overall FHB resistance program.

Forage barley: The forage program has undergone several iterations since its inception in 1982. Two types of forage cultivars were developed at Brandon, as represented by the cultivars ‘Virden’ and ‘AC Ranger’. Virden (1986) is a high-biomass, low harvest index, variety that is designed for silage production only whereas AC Ranger (2001) is a high harvest index cultivar with high biomass of superior quality. The ‘Virden’ type is no longer preferred by producers and the current effort will be aimed at releasing cultivars with improvements over AC Ranger. Since this type of barley also produces high grain yields, there is no longer the need to develop high-yielding six-row feed cultivars and this has resulted in the termination of the six-row feed cultivar development effort.

Hulless feed barley: This effort was initiated by Dr. Therrien in 1988 and produced two (six-row) cultivars: AC Hawkeye and AC Bacon. Both cultivars were developed for the hog market, but did not produce competitive yields to compete with grain corn and feed wheat. Therefore, they are grown on limited acreage. To overcome this problem, a long-term effort has been initiated that would see a six-row hulless feed cultivar with a 30-40% yield increase over AC Bacon and CDC McGwire (the current yield standards) and acceptable feed quality. The effort is expected to take 10-12 years.

FHB: In the last 7 years, a large effort has been underway to develop new barley varieties with lower DON and FHB levels. The effort involves multiple institutions and breeding programs across Canada and assistance from the NABSEN program in the U.S. To date, there are at least a dozen lines, in advanced testing, that demonstrate very low, or much reduced, DON levels vs. conventional cultivars. Most are hulless lines and the remainder are two-row covered lines. Reduced DON in six-row germplasm is proving to be a much greater challenge. Funding challenges may reduce the size of the effort, but it is hoped that the effort can continue to develop low-DON cultivars in the foreseeable future.

Research: Reductions in funding have necessitated the curbing of most research-related activities. Future research efforts will be pursued via the competitive grant approach with colleagues from universities.