Manuel J. Cortez, James H. Helm, Patricia E. Juskiw, Don Salmon, Jennifer Zantinge,

George Clayton, Kequan Xi, Kelly Turkington, and William Stewart

Alberta/Canada Barley Development Group

Lacombe, Alberta, Canada

With low grain prices during 1999, farmers elected to plant less barley. According to Statistic Canada, there were about 1.922 million ha (4,750,000 acres)of barley in Alberta in 1999. This was 44% of the Canadian barley acreage and 47% of the barley acreage in western Canada. Estimated mean yield for Alberta was 3500 kg/ha (65.5 bu/acre) somewhat above the Canadian average of 3,200 kg/ha. Harrington, a two row malting variety, and AC Lacombe, a six row feeding variety, were the predominant cultivars grown by Alberta farmers.

In 1999, the Alberta Barley Breeding Program of the Alberta Field Crop Development Center, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, released three new barley varieties: Jaeger, Peregrine and Niska.

Jaeger, is a six- row, hulless, feed, semi-dwarf, spring barley (PI 608012). Jaeger, yields higher than Falcon and Condor, the two predominant hulless barley cultivars grown in Alberta. It has a very good resistance to lodging. Jaeger is very well adapted to the brown soil of Saskatchewan and to the brown soils and irrigated areas of Alberta. It has resistance to scald and septoria leaf blotch.

Peregrine, is a semi-dwarf, spring, six-row, hulless barley (PI 611140). It is well adapted to western Canada where the lodging is a limiting factor in production. Peregrine is resistant to head breakage. It has moderate resistance to scald.

Niska, is a six-row, feed, semi-dwarf, spring cultivar (PI 611139). It is smooth awned with a very good yield, large seed and high test weight. It has resistance to surface borne smuts and it has moderate resistance to scald and to net blotch. Niska is well adapted to western Canada.

Under the Creation and Development of Barley Germplasm project, more than 1000 barley lines were introduced. In cooperation with CIMMYT, Mexico, International Barley Nurseries were grown at Lacombe Research Centre. These nurseries were evaluated and screened for scald, net blotch resistance and other desirable agronomic traits.

New barley crosses were made at the new J. H. Helm growth facilities. This new germplasm, with desirable disease resistance and good economic traits, were turned over to the breeding program for selection.

 Diseases

Scald and net blotch are common diseases in Alberta. These foliar diseases reduce the barley yield and quality on an annual basis.

In the summer of 1999, in co-operation with Lacombe Research Centre (AAFC), a large nursery of breeders lines was grown at Lacombe and Edmonton sites. These nurseries were evaluated for scald resistance. Scald infection was very good in Lacombe while in Edmonton the infection was delayed. Resistance and susceptibility of these lines were very marked in both sites.

A second replica of the same nursery was evaluated for net blotch at Saskatoon and Brandon, Manitoba. AAFC scientists and technicians coordinated the inoculation of breeding lines with loose smut. The inoculated barleys were grown out by AAFRD staff and screened for resistance to loose smut. Using a vacuum inoculation technique, many breeding lines were inoculated to screen for covered smut resistance.

A barley disease survey was conducted in 1999 by AAFC pathologists in Alberta. The level of the leaf disease was less severe than in 1998. Each year, the pathologist surveyors have observed that the barley leaf stripe increases rapidly.

In 1999, the agronomy section of the Lacombe AAFC, carried out a study on the impact of various seed applied chemicals on emergence and productivity of hulless barley varieties. It was found that most of the current registered seed treatments and several experimental compounds had limited impact on emergence, stand establishment and productivity in hulless barley. Other factors related to seed quality (germination and vigour) were more important as far as influencing germination and the stand establishment of hulless barley.

In 1999, the Field Crop Development Centre began setting up a Cereal Molecular Genetics Laboratory in cooperation with Lacombe Research Centre. The laboratory will give breeders and pathologists access to molecular biology tools to improve the quality of their programs. This laboratory will focus on the identification of cereal genes, molecular markers, and proteins attributing to disease resistance, yield, and cereal quality. Dr. Jennifer Zantinge, who recently joined the Field Crop Development Centre, as a molecular biologist, is supervising this new project.

References

Helm, J. H., M. J. Cortez, R.I. Wolfe, P.E. Juskiw, D. F. Salmon, and W. M. Stewart.1999.

Registration of ‘Mahigan’ barley. Crop Sci. 39:1258-1259.

Helm, J. H., M. J. Cortez, P.E. Juskiw, D. F. Salmon, and W. M. Stewart.1999. Registration of ‘Jaeger’ barley. Crop Sci. In press.

Xi. K, P. A. Burnett, T. K Turkington, J. H. Helm, K. B. B.B. Briggs, J.P. Tewari and P.D. Kharbanda. 1999. Scald distribution and barley cultivar resistance in Alberta. Proceeding of the 20^th Annual Meeting of the Plant Pathology Society of Alberta, November 8-10, 1999, Jasper, AB.(Abstr.): In press.

Now Field Crop Development Centre is on the Web : http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/ministry/pid/fcdc/genetic.html