M.C. Therrien
Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Brandon Research Centre
The shift, from six-row barley to two-row barley in Manitoba, continued in 2002, with a slight majority of insured barley acres (53%) sown to two-row varieties. However, only 78% of barley acres were insured in 2002, with the remaining 22% being almost exclusively six-row varieties grown as feed or forage. The number of cattle is at an all-time high in Manitoba, with c. 1.3 million head. Barley is the main crop fed to these cattle, accounting for the high levels of feed/forage barley in 2002. Acceptance of malting barley was also at an all-time low, just below 8%, indicating most of the barley produce was used as feed. Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) was still prevalent, but was lower than any the previous 4 years, and was not a major factor in down-grading of malting quality or mycotoxin-contaminated feed.
Hulless barley production dropped to negligible levels in 2002 (prairie-wide). This is believed due to combination of (FHB incited) mycotoxin levels and the low-cost availability of toxin-free alternative feed wheat and corn. This leaves the viability of commercial hulless feed barley in some doubt.
The breeding effort at Brandon continues to adapt to the changing landscape. There has been an internal re-organisation at AAFC that has seen all of the barley R & D aligned along a national level. Thus, new varieties will not necessarily be released on a regional level, as in the past, but will be targeted for as many agro-ecological zones as possible. The barley effort will have a core of twelve scientists, located throughout Canada, along with major support from most cereal scientists within AAFC as well as the Canadian plant breeding community. This is aimed at strengthening the overall effort and ensuring a national mandate.
1. Six-row Malting Barley
As of 31 December 2002, funding ceased for the six-row malting barley program at the Brandon Research Centre. This ended a ten-year collaboration with private industry. Corporate mergers and ensuing financial constraints led to this decision. Lines that are remaining will be evaluated and any promising varieties will be released to industry. It is expected that the last lines will reach co-operative test levels in 2008. Selection emphasis will be on malting quality and low FHB/mycotoxin.
2. Six-row Forage Barley
Most of our efforts are being spent on this program. The recent release of AC Ranger, with its first year of commercial production in 2003, has strengthened the program’s position in forage barley development. AC Ranger is expected to do well commercially, combining high forage and grain yield potential, as well as high forage quality. Both beef and dairy producers prefer a more versatile product, and we will continue to produce this type of dual forage/feed type of barley. The main challenges are improved FHB resistance (low mycotoxins), foliar disease resistance, straw strength, and higher tonnage while maintaining quality. We will also be looking towards developing very broadly adapted types. We are using Male-Sterile-Facilitated Recurrent Selection (MSFRS) as a primary means of developing new forage varieties.
3. Hulless Feed Barley
In order for hulless feed barley to be competitive in the swine and poultry feed markets, it must compete with feed wheat and/or corn, primarily in market price, but also having very low (or no) levels of mycotoxins. We have started to address this by first attempting to develop lines with low levels (avg. 1 ppm) of mycotoxins. We have identified a few lines that appear to meet this criterion. We will be evaluating these for agronomic performance (and further testing in FHB nurseries). If we identify a low toxin line that performs as well as current hulless varieties, we will release it in the hope that some producers will grow it as a preferred source high-energy, nutritionally balanced feed for swine and poultry. Our long-range goal is to release a low toxin, high yielding six-row hulless feed variety.
4. Hulless Food Barley
We continue to make progress in this effort, having selected elite material suitable for production of many different types of barley-based food products. This effort is part of a larger effort involving both public and private institutions, with the Crop Development Centre, at Saskatoon, SK., and the Cereal Research Centre, Winnipeg, MB. having lead roles. Since this is a new class of barley, many of the grading, quality, and commercial acceptance issues are still being sorted out. Commercial production of snack chips and soft tortillas has been demonstrated using “waxy” endosperm varieties. New milling technologies have accelerated the road to commercialisation of food barley types. We are expanding our efforts in this area as we are recognising the high potential for consumer acceptance of ‘healthy’ alternatives to (some) wheat or corn based products.
The research efforts at Brandon continues, and is part of a much larger effort that involves researchers from Canada and the U.S., and from government institutions, universities, and private industry. Six breeding programs are involved from both countries. In spite of the fact that Fusarium resistance (in barley), as well as mycotoxin accumulation, are complex issues, significant progress has been made in the last four years. Low mycotoxin accumulation, under severe disease pressure, has been detected in a few lines from all of the contributing breeding programs in 2001 and 2002. This will be confirmed in 2003, as this complex trait requires multiple site-years to confirm. Those lines with low (trace) mycotoxin levels will be advanced to co-operative registration trials over the next 3 to 5 years. Our program has two promising lines, a six-row and a two-row, both hulless lines. The effort at Brandon has seen reduced funding for fiscal 2003-2004, and this may negatively impact future FHB work.
We are involved in a number of research efforts in support of breeding programs. These are summarized, along with collaborating institutions:
1. Determining characteristics in hulless barley that contribute to food production and development of protocols for predicting food quality traits (AAFC Cereal Research Centre; Crop Development Centre). Expected completion 2004.
2. Determining functionality and health benefits of barley-based food products in clinical trials (AAFC Cereal Research Centre; University of Manitoba). Expected completion 2005.
3. A rapid assay for quantifying beta-glucans in barley (AAFC Cereal Research Centre). Completed in 2002. A modified ELISA method was found to be an excellent predictor of beta-glucan levels in barley. Large numbers of samples can be screened at a relatively low cost. Findings to be published in 2003.
4. The role of abuscular myccorhysal fungi (AMF) in barley production (AAFC Saskatoon Research Centre). Ongoing. An inheritance study has been started and completion expected in 2005.
5. Effect of hog manure over-utilization on performance and quality of barley cultivars (AAFC Brandon). Completed in 2002. Significant varietal effects were found that could be useful to producers in managing hog manure on production land. Findings to be published 2003-2004.
6. Digital plant breeding tools. Completed in 2002. Use of remote-sensing tools found to be quite limited, due to limits of these technologies to distinguish functional changes between cultivars.
7. Weed competitiveness in barley (University of Manitoba). Large differences in competitive ability (CA) found amongst 22 cultivars. This CA is amenable to genetic manipulation and will be used in developing future forage barley varieties. Scientific publications (Thesis) expected in 2004-2005. Further experiments planned for 2003 and 2004.