New barley lines offer major benefits for farmers

Helping producers reduce the impact of hog manure on the environment and battle Fusarium head blight (FHB) are the key benefits of two new types of barley that were recommended for registration at the recent Prairie Registration Recommending Committee for Grain (PRRCG) meeting in Banff, Alberta.

Candidate line HB379 is the first Canadian barley developed with the "low phytate" trait, which when fed to hogs results in manure that contains less phosphorous. It's a two-row hulless barley that features an overall strong performance package for growers.

Candidate line TR04378 is a two-row feed barley that brings together a unique combination of a significant improvement in Fusarium head blight resistance and reasonable spot blotch tolerance. Those traits come in a package similar to the best feed varieties for plumpness, uniformity and straw strength.

"Both of these barleys represent significant advantages for barley growers and for livestock producers," says barley breeder Dr. Brian Rossnagel of the University of Saskatchewan's Crop Development Centre. Rossnagel and colleagues developed the varieties with funding support in part from barley producers through the Barley Check-off Fund, administered by Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF).

When HB379 is granted a final stamp of approval by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Variety Registration Office, it will be the first Canadian low phytate or "LP" barley variety. The cultivar is based on a collaboration with Dr. Victor Raboy of the USDA in Aberdeen, Idaho, who developed and provided the initial LP barley germplasm.

The line is a potential win-win variety, says Rossnagel. "Growers will have a higher valued product to sell, and hog producers can reduce the impact their operations might have on the environment."

The idea behind LP barley is to produce a type of barley that is low in phytic acid, says Vern Racz, Executive Director of the Prairie Feed Resource Centre (PFRC), University of Saskatchewan. "Phytic acid is a form of phosphorus that is almost indigestible by monogastric livestock and typically ends up in manure."

In conventional barley, approximately 70 percent of the phosphorus is in the form of phytic acid, explains Racz. "Low phytate varieties contain a similar amount of phosphorus, but that phosphorous is in a form that is easier for pigs to digest. It also has a feed efficiency benefit for poultry."

HB379 has 75 percent less phytic acid than conventional barley, says Rossnagel. "We haven't eliminated phosphorus in the manure, but it's a definite improvement."

The second barley line, TR04378, likewise represents a strong improvement. Its combination of good FHB resistance and reasonable spot blotch tolerance is unique among two row barleys. FHB resistance in particular has been a very difficult trait to identify and incorporate. The disease has caused devastating yield and quality losses for growers and rendered infected grain unfit for livestock consumption.

"This line offers a very good package of disease resistance that will help farmers protect their yield and quality."

TR04387 will be released jointly by the Crop Development Centre and by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), notes Rossnagel. "This line was the result of the ongoing collaborative effort among several research institutions to improve FHB tolerance in barley for Western Canada. TR04387 will be released jointly, since the FHB screening nursery at AAFC Brandon, led by Dr. Bill Legge, was essential to identifying the improved FHB tolerance in this line."

Full coverage of discussion and crop lines recommended at the PRRCG meeting is also available in the WGRF-sponsored ((italics)) 2006 PRRCG Report: Building Canada's new strategy ((end italics)), available through the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) web site, www.westerngrains.com.

The WGRF-administered Wheat and Barley Check-off Funds allocate approximately $4 million annually to wheat and barley breeding research.