Barley production

Barley production in California consists primarily of fall-sown 6-row spring feed barley. Most of the acreage is concentrated in the Central (Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys) Valley and surrounding foothills and in the south-central coastal valley foothills. Barley is grown as an irrigated rotation crop in the Central Valley and as a rainfed crop in the Central Valley foothills and south-central coastal foothills. A substantial acreage of spring-sown feed (6-row) or malting (2-row, primarily) barley also is grown under irrigation in the Tulelake basin in the northeastern portion of California and serves as a rotation crop for potato. Statewide, barley was grown on 260,000 acres in 1995, 12% less than in 1994. About 200,000 acres were harvested for grain; average yields were 1.68 tons per acre.

The 1995 season was a very difficult one for small grains, including barley, particularly in the northern portion of the Central Valley, because of excessive winter rainfall. Barley was severely affected by scald, including cultivars such as UC 337 that have shown adequate resistance under severe disease pressure in the past. Also of note on barley, not for its severity but for its occurrence and distribution, was stripe rust. Stripe rust first appeared in California in 1993 (Tulelake basin) and again in 1994 (Merced Co. and Kings Co. and at UC Davis) in trace amounts. In 1995, it occurred throughout the Central Valley, the foothills, and the south-central coastal valleys, but was most severe in the intermountain region (Tulelake basin). Fifteen collections of stripe rust and 12 collections of leaf rust were submitted to the USDA Cereal Rust Laboratory for race identification. Estimated statewide yield losses were 2.5% for stripe rust and 1% for leaf rust.
 
 

Germplasm development and evaluation

The germplasm development program in California includes breeding and selection by public and private plant breeders and coordinated statewide testing of promising advanced lines from both types of programs. The main objective of the University of California barley breeding project is to develop feed barleys for the principal production regions of California. The project also is developing barley genotypes for smaller, specific niches. Breeding materials were evaluated at UC Davis in 1995 and new populations, wherein UC 828 and UC 337 were hybridized to arrays of other elite parents having resistance to stripe rust, were created. F₁hybrids were grown in a summer greenhouse and F₂ populations, along with materials selected from previous programs, were grown for evaluation and selection. The greatest part of the program is planted to new F₃ head rows descended from very recent crosses. Over 18,000 rows were planted in November, 1995. Five entries, four of which had resistance to stripe rust in Bolivia, were tested in regional yield trials. New populations were created to combine high yield, short stature, and malting or feed quality for the intermountain area of northeastern California. The populations (F₁ and F₂generations) were grown during the 1995 season and their progenies will be evaluated in 1996 at Tulelake. Six entries, all resistant to stripe rust, were selected for testing in the intermountain area yield trials. Four lines were provided to the Oregon State University research station at Klamath Falls. If barley stripe rust becomes a serious problem, new lines of barley are available although yield testing has not been completed; stocks can be increased in parallel to yield trials. All existing barley cultivars are susceptible to the stripe rust races that appeared at Tulelake in 1995. The development of barley genotypes for smaller, specific niches continues. To develop a non-awned, hooded forage barley, "Hooded Atlas" was backcrossed to UC 337. Progenies in the F₃ and F₄ generation are in the field for evaluation (current season). We continue to develop a short growth cycle barley (similar in maturity to the cultivar "Poco", but taller and larger seeded) for low moisture environments and crop rotation.

For the statewide testing program in 1995, the fall-sown UC regional barley nursery contained 39 entries for irrigated sites (41 entries for rainfed sites), including 12 released cultivars and advanced breeding lines from 7 programs (University of California, Western Plant Breeders, Farmers Marketing Corporation, Arizona Plant Breeders, Northrup-King Co., Resource Seeds, Inc., and Busch Agricultural Resources). All of the entries were 6-row spring feed barleys except for one 2-row spring feed barley (Meltan) and one 6-row spring malt barley (6B88-3213). Among diseases, barley scald had the greatest impact. Disease pressure from scald was high to very high at 7 locations. Net blotch pressure was moderate to high at 4 locations, while leaf rust pressure was moderate to high at 4 locations. Low to moderate levels of stripe rust were detected at Kings, Merced, and Sutter. Seven entries (RSI 32306, RSI 32611, UCD 92-10511, UCD 92-10588, UCD 92-10556, UCD 92-10615, and DA 592-56) showed high levels of resistance to scald; 9 entries showed high levels of resistance to net blotch; and 13 entries, to leaf rust. Severe lodging occurred at Kings, Merced, and UC Davis; 2 entries (UC 603 and FMC 8055) showed excellent lodging resistance. Average yields ranged from 1940 lb/acre (520 - 3170 lb/acre) at the rainfed Yolo site to 4890 lb/acre (1460 - 7260 lb/acre) at UC Davis. Entries RSI 32306, UC 337, and UCD 92-10556 were the highest yielding in the Sacramento Valley; RSI 32306, RSI 212, and UCD 92-10588, in the San Joaquin Valley; and DA 592-39, RSI 32611, and RSI 32306, in rainfed areas. In the three-year period 1993-95, entries RSI 219, RSI 212, UC 828, and UC 337 were the highest yielding in the Sacramento Valley; RSI 212 and RSI 219, in the San Joaquin Valley; and Arivat, in rainfed areas.

A limited germplasm evaluation program was conducted in the intermountain region of northeastern California in 1995. The Western Regional spring barley nursery (32 entries) was evaluated at the UC Intermountain Research and Extension Center at Tulelake, while winter barleys (14 entries) and spring barleys (19 entries) were evaluated at two locations. The germplasm evaluated in the intermountain region derives primarily from public breeding programs in the Pacific Northwest and included 2-row and 6-row feed and malting barleys. Yields in the winter barley tests ranged from 4170 - 6650 lb/ac at the Siskiyou Co. site and from 750 - 1610 lb/ac at the Shasta Co. site where poor soil fertility and saturated soil conditions resulted in low yields and high variability. Kold (a new cultivar from Oregon with stripe rust resistance) and Eight-Twelve were highest yielding at Siskiyou, while Hesk and Steptoe were highest yielding at Shasta. In the period 1993-95, Kold, Eight-Twelve, Boyer, and Westbred Sprinter were the highest yielding in the intermountain region. Yields in the spring barley tests ranged from 4060 - 5920 lb/acre at Siskiyou under late-season moisture stress and from 5420 - 7940 lb/acre at Tulelake under ideal growing conditions. Cultivars Steptoe and Colter at Siskiyou and Maranna and Steptoe at Tulelake were highest yielding; barley stripe rust was relatively severe on most entries, including Maranna and Steptoe, at Tulelake. In the period 1993-95, Steptoe (6-row), Colter (6-row), Maranna (6-row), and Baronesse (2-row) were the highest yielding. In 1995, yields in the Western Regional spring barley nursery ranged from 4420 - 9010 lb/acre. UT81B275-248//SDSS was the highest yielding for the second year in a row. 

Return to the Table of Contents