Production. Utah’s 1999 harvested barley acreage continued a modest drop that it has experienced over the past few years. A one-bushel reduction in yield per acre (compared to the previous year) also contributed to a reduced overall production. Depressed barley prices continue to discourage production.

Losses from diseases were generally minimal. Barley stripe rust was observed in some areas, but most infection was too late to cause serious losses. Infestations of cereal leaf beetle, Russian wheat aphid and grasshoppers were spotty and varied in intensity.

Breeding Program. Progress is being made in the shortening of plant height, and significant improvements in straw strength have been realized in recent cultivar releases.

Cultivar and Germplasm Releases. Foundation seed of our most recent barley release, ‘Millennium’ (UT004603), was produced in 1999, for release in 2000. Millennium has consistently been the highest-yielding entry in Utah irrigated trials over four years (1996-1999, 16 station years). It also performed very well during the two years (1997 and 1998) it was in the Western Regional Spring Barley Nursery, where it ranked second in yield in 1997 (among 32 entries), and first in 1998 (among 30 entries). Its average yield exceeded that of Steptoe by 11.5% (5502 kg ha^-1 vs.4935 kg ha^-1) in 1997, and by 15.4% (6424 kg ha^-1 vs. 5568 kg ha^–1) in 1998. Preliminary tests have shown Millennium to express some resistance to barley stripe rust. The low lodging levels for Millennium (2%) and Brigham (4%) compared to those for Steptoe (54%), Century (19%), Statehood (15%), Rollo (35%), Walker (14%), and Bracken (34%), make them well suited for production under high-yielding irrigated conditions.

Two dwarf germplasm stocks (UT Short#1 and UT Short#2) were developed in our program and are being released for breeding purposes. They have been successfully utilized in the Utah barley breeding program as a source of shortened plant height and lodging resistance. Of our two most recent cultivar releases, Brigham utilized UT Short#1 as a parent line and Millennium utilized UT Short#2. UT Short#1 and UT Short#2 grow approximately 20 and 25 cm tall, respectively. They differ from many dwarf barleys in that they produce normal length, lax heads. They are six-row and early maturing. A more detailed germplasm release for UT Short#1 and UT Short#2 will be published in Crop Science, as will registrations for Brigham and Millennium.