The systematic evaluation of barley accessions in the USDA-ARS National Small Grains Collection (NSGC) and other elite germplasm is coordinated by National Small Grains Germplasm Research Facility (NSGGRF) staff at Aberdeen. Cooperative barley evaluations continued for reaction to barley stripe rust; spot and net blotch of barley; barley yellow dwarf virus; and barley stripe mosaic virus as well as evaluations of beta-glucan, protein, and oil content of NSGC barley accessions. Russian wheat aphid evaluations conducted by ARS personnel at Stillwater, Oklahoma are essentially complete for the NSGC. Specific Cooperative Agreements or within ARS Fund Transfers involving cooperative evaluations and related research for all small grains involve over 20 University and ARS projects in at least 17 states.

Data obtained from evaluations of NSGC germplasm are entered in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) system by the NSGGRF staff in cooperation with the ARS National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Examples of data available on GRIN for barley are summarized below.

Descriptors with data on the Germplasm Resources Information Network.
Descriptor Testing Location(s) No. Evaluated
Aleurone Color Aberdeen, ID; Mesa, Maricopa, AZ 6953
Beta Glucan Madison, WI 9390
Growth Habit Aberdeen, ID 24663
Lodging Aberdeen, ID; Mesa, Maricopa, AZ 6937
Net Blotch Fargo, ND 14101
Russian Wheat Aphid Stillwater, OK 24451
Spot Blotch Fargo, ND 19417
Stripe Rust Cochabamba, Bolivia 24202

An important barley germplasm evaluation effort concerned with barley stripe rust continued in 1998 in cooperation involving ARS and Colorado State University. This work was initiated in 1990, with the first stripe rust evaluation nurseries established in Cochabamba, Bolivia under the direction of W.M. Brown, Jr., Vidal Velasco, and J.P. Hill. Nearly all cultivated barley accessions in the NSGC has been evaluated for reaction to barley stripe rusts in Cochabamba. Data are available for 24,202 accessions, with resistant or moderately resistant reactions being recorded for 493 accessions. Fifty percent of the barley stripe rust resistant accessions originated in Ethiopia, with the balance coming from 45 other countries.

Testing for reaction to barley stripe rust continued in Cochabamba through 1996, with the focus on these barley stripe rust evaluation trials moving to Toluca, Mexico; Mt. Vernon, Washington, and other locations. In addition to the evaluation of NSGC germplasm, barley stripe rust evaluation trials at Cochabamba, Bolivia and other locations have also included a number of barley varieties and elite lines from a number of cooperators. Cooperators that have submitted entries for evaluation in recent years include Busch Agricultural Resources, Inc.: Coors Brewing Company; Montana State University; Oregon State University; Plant Breeders 1; University of California - Davis; University of Minnesota; USDA-ARS/Aberdeen, Idaho; Utah State University; Washington State University; and Western Plant Breeders. In the last year of testing at Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1996, 58% of 1331 cooperator entries were resistant; 93% of 341 previously tested NSGC or elite lines were resistant; and 18% of 4,168 new (not previously tested) NSGC accessions were rated resistant.

* The authors wish to acknowledge the important contributions of the NSGGRF staff in this germplasm evaluation effort, with special thanks to Glenda B. Rutger, Santos Nieto, Dave E. Burrup, Judy Bradley, Carol S. Truman, and Kay B. Calzada.