MINNESOTA REPORT

Donald Rasmusson and Kevin Smith

University of Minnesota

Changing of the Guard–A transition is underway within the barley breeding program at the University of Minnesota. Donald Rasmusson and Kevin Smith are midway through a mentoring arrangement which began December 1, 1998 when Kevin joined the project and will end November 30, 2000 when Don retires. The overlap was made possible by funding from the Minnesota Barley Growers Association and the American Malting Barley Association (AMBA). Kevin earned Master’s and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His graduate program emphasized plant breeding, plant pathology and molecular genetics. Don began his barley career at the University of Minnesota in 1958.

Current varieties–

The downward trend in barley production in Minnesota since 1993 continued into 1999. This year the total acreage planted to barley in Minnesota took one of its sharpest declines from 440,000 acres planted in 1998 to 220,000 acres planted in 1999 primarily due to low prices and concern about Fusarium Head Blight (FHB).

The common practice in the upper Midwest of one variety dominating the barley acreage picture prevailed again in 1999. Robust which was released to growers in 1983, continued as the leading variety followed by Stander and Foster. Robust, which has been the leading variety acreage-wise in the Upper Midwest since 1985, was planted on 67 percent of all barley acres in 1999. Stander, which had good early acceptance by growers and industry (1995 to 1997) and is currently out of favor with the major brewers, has retreated to the status of a small acreage variety. Foster ranked second to Robust in acres planted in North Dakota and third overall.

New varieties–

MNBrite–Expectations were high for MNBrite released in 1998, since it was the first variety in the region to be released in response to the FHB epidemic. MNBrite, which has an intermediate reaction to FHB, was developed in a program that began in 1970 to obtain disease-free kernels. It was named MNBrite because it has brighter, more disease-free kernels than other Midwestern barley varieties. Unfortunately, MNBrite is not acceptable to the brewing industry and hence will not be widely adopted by growers.

Lacey (M98)–was released to seed growers in Spring 2000. It was obtained from a cross made in 1993 between two elite Minnesota lines (M79 and M78) which had Minnesota varieties Manker, Morex, Robust and Excel in their pedigrees. The breeding method was pedigree coupled with single seed descent. Lacey was derived from a breeding program aimed at lowering soluble protein to address the problems associated with the higher levels of soluble protein found in Stander. Compared to Stander, Lacey is about 1% lower in soluble protein in malt evaluations conducted from 1996-1999. The 1999 crop of Lacey is being evaluated in the AMBA plant-scale testing program.

Lacey should provide a significant improvement in yield over the predominant variety Robust. In Midwestern regional trials (1998-1999), Lacey was 12 and 4% higher yielding than Robust and Stander, respectively. Percentage plump kernels of Lacey are similar to Robust and Stander. In seven Minnesota trials where lodging occurred, the respective lodging percentages were 33% for Lacey and 42% for Robust. It is not as resistant to lodging as Stander. Lacey has resistance to spot blotch and to stem rust. It is susceptible to loose smut and FHB (scab). Lacey’s quality profile is similar to Robust except in alpha amylase. In several trials it was 18% higher in alpha amylase and 0.5% higher in malt extract than Robust.

The name Lacey was chosen to pay tribute to the late Gerald Lacey for his important contributions to the barley industry in Minnesota, including the University of Minnesota Barley Program. Gerald had served as President of both the Minnesota and National Barley Grower Associations. He played a major role in strengthening barley research programs by encouraging closer liaison with growers, and by helping to obtain funding from state and national governments for barley scab research.