Fargo, North Dakota
February 5, 2009
Source:
North Dakota State
University
The
American Malting Barley
Association Inc. (AMBA), a nonprofit trade association of
major U.S. malting and brewing companies and a member of the
North Dakota State University
Institute of Barley and
Malt Sciences (IBMS), has announced recommended malting
barley varieties for the 2009 growing season.
Foster and Stander, six-rowed varieties, have been dropped from
last year's list. Rasmusson, a six-rowed variety developed at
the University of Minnesota and named in honor of Donald
Rasmusson, retired barley breeder, has been added.
Another addition is Charles, a two-rowed winter variety
developed by the USDA- Agricultural Research Service National
Small Grains Germplasm Research Facility in Idaho. Charles is
named after the late Charles Murphy, USDA-ARS plant breeder.
This is the first winter malting barley variety to be added to
the AMBA recommended list.
The recommended two-rowed varieties for 2009 are AC Metcalfe,
CDC Copeland, Charles, Conlon, Conrad, Craft, Harrington, Merit
and Scarlett. Recommended six- rowed varieties are Drummond,
Lacey, Legacy, Rasmusson, Robust, Stellar-ND and Tradition.
Malting barley growers are encouraged to contact their local
elevator, grain handler or processor to gauge market demand for
varieties grown in the region prior to seeding. The development
of malting barley varieties in the U.S. is the result of efforts
by both public and private breeding programs. Public programs
are at both state and federal institutions, with AMBA funding
development work at many of these locations.
"The association has provided more than $2.5 million in barley
research funding in the last five years," according to Mike
Davis, AMBA president.
AMBA also helps coordinate the activities of the National Barley
Improvement Committee (NBIC), which represents the entire U.S.
barley community, such as growers, researchers and end users.
The NBIC works to secure federal support for barley research and
breeding. This federal support is critical to barley improvement
and includes research on disease resistance, genomics, drought
tolerance and end-use quality.
In the early stages of developing a new variety, breeders begin
testing their experimental lines for agronomic characteristics,
such as yield and disease resistance. Later, malting quality
tests are conducted on lines developed by public-sector breeders
at the Agricultural Research Service's Cereal Crops Research
Unit (CCRU) in Madison, Wis. The CCRU analyzes several thousand
lines each year for a number of quality factors as concurrent
agronomic trials are continued in both state and regional
nurseries by the breeders.
In the later stages of development, lines are submitted to the
AMBA, which coordinates testing by its member companies in a
two-stage process. After two years of satisfactory testing in
pilot malting trials, selections are eligible for
commercial-scale malting and brewing evaluations. After
successful commercial trials, malting varieties are added to the
AMBA recommended list.
The NDSU IBMS seeks to provide reliable, high-quality, targeted
research, outreach and education for U.S. barley producers and
domestic and international malting and brewing industries at a
single site.
The IBMS board of directors also includes representatives from
producer groups in Idaho, Montana and North Dakota, as well as
Rahr Malting Co., Malteurop North America Inc., Anheuser-Busch
Inc., Cargill Malt and MillerCoors Brewing Co.
More information about the IBMS is available at
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ibms/. |
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