J.M. Nyachiro1*, J.H. Helm1, P.E Juskiw1, D.F. Salmon1, J.L. Zantinge1, K. Xi1,
K. Turkington2, G. Clayton2, M. Oro1, C. Bos1, B.J. Russell1, and T. Duggan1
1Alberta Agriculture, Food & Rural Development Field Crop Development Centre, 5030 - 50 Street, Lacombe, AB T4L 1W8
2Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lacombe Research Centre, 6000 C&E Trail, Lacombe, Alberta, T4L 1W1, CANADA
website: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/app21/rtw/selsubj.jsp
*Corresponding author: joseph.nyachiro@gov.ab.ca
In 2003, the moisture conditions in the Prairie Provinces of Canada were better than 2002. Harvested grain yields were higher compared to 2002. According to Statistics Canada, Alberta farmers planted about 5.4 million acres (2.7 million ha) of barley in 2003. This acreage was same as 2002 but 5% higher than the 5-year average. The total barley production was about 5.68 million tonnes. This was 131% above the 2002 harvested grain yield average. However, 2002 grain yields were lowest in the 10-year average due to severe drought.
In 2002, Field Crop Development Center (FCDC) of Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AAFRD), released two new barley varieties, ‘Manny’ and ‘Ponoka’.
Manny barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is 6-rowed, hulled, rough-awned spring barley, with strong straw. Manny was developed at the FCDC of AAFRD. Manny was named after the late Manuel (Manny) J. Cortez, the FCDC germplasm scientist involved in the early development of this and many other barley varieties from FCDC. Manuel worked at FCDC for 14 years developing and evaluating a wide range of germplasm and maintaining the germplasm database.
Manny has good field resistance to scald and has multiple gene resistance to scald, as was shown in combined data from the Western Co-operative Six-Rowed Barley Test and CIMMYT (International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center). In inoculated tests for smut in 1996 - 1999 at FCDC, Manny was shown to be resistant to loose smut. In the Western Co-operative Six-Rowed Barley Tests, Manny had good resistance to covered smut. Manny has moderate resistance or tolerance to false loose smut. Some of the Breeder lines of Manny were found to be susceptible to loose smut, and further testing has shown 60% of the lines to be resistant while the remaining lines are susceptible to loose smut. Manny is moderately susceptible to both net-form of net blotch and the spot-form of net blotch. Manny is susceptible to common root rot. Manny is moderately susceptible to stem rust. Manny is susceptible to both spot blotch and to septoria or speckled leaf blotch. Manny is moderately susceptible to Fusarium head blight (scab).
Manny has as good as, or better drought tolerance than ‘AC Lacombe’ as indicated by its (Manny) water use efficiency (grain yield per unit of applied water). Manny is well suited to the high-yielding scald-prone areas of Alberta. Its earlier maturity is also a bonus for Central Alberta. SeCan Association® will be marketing Manny barley.
Ponoka, is a two-rowed, spring feed barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), developed by the FCDC, Lacombe, AB, Canada. Ponoka was tested by FCDC as H93003006Z and in the Western Co- operative Two-Row Barley Registration Test as TR01656.
The FCDC yield data show that Ponoka yields 15% higher than the feed check ‘CDC Dolly’ under high-yielding conditions (>8.0 t/ha) with an average yield advantage of 6%. Silage yields are 7% higher than those of AC Lacombe (the most common silage variety in Alberta) and 11% higher than CDC Dolly.
Ponoka is resistant (R) to surface-borne smuts and true loose smut. It is moderately resistant (MR) to the net form of net blotch; and moderately susceptible (MS) to spot form of net blotch. Its reaction to scald ranges from R to MS depending on the race of scald, giving it an overall rating of MR. Its reaction to fusarium head blight and common root rot is MR/MS; to spot blotch MS, and to stem rust, septoria and barley yellow dwarf is susceptible.
Ponoka was selected from the cross H92001F1/TR229. H92001F1 was the F1 generation of the cross ‘Harrington’/’Camelot’ made at FCDC. Harrington is a two-rowed malting barley developed at the University of Saskatoon, Saskatoon, SK, Canada. Camelot is a two-rowed barley introduced to FCDC in the 13th International Barley Yield Trial supplied by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)/CIMMYT, Mexico. TR 229 is a malting line developed by Bill Legge at AAFC, Brandon. SeCan Association® will be marketing Ponoka barley.
In 2003, the FCDC and CIMMYT/ICARDA continue to collaborate in developing disease resistant barley cultivars/lines. At FCDC, various backgrounds of disease resistance from genetically diverse lines have been incorporated into lines with superior desirable agronomic traits that are adapted to Alberta conditions. Over 10 barley cultivars have been released by the FCDC through this program. The value of this germplasm is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Alberta producers and the Alberta economy. There are other benefits to the industry as various breeding programs access germplasm from FCDC and CIMMYT/ICARDA for both malting and feed barley purposes.
In 2003, we completed a project measuring hull adherence in hulled barley. We made a mechanical device to induce peeling in hulled barley; developed sample sets using this device for use in calibration development for the NIRS; and validated these equations with multi-location samples.
These results were published in final reports to Alberta Agriculture Research Institute and Alberta Barley Commission entitled “Hull Adherence in Hulled Malting Barley”. [Abstract can be found at:
http://www.innsci-webapps.gov.ab.ca/].
During the project we developed equations to measure the percentage of hull in the sample and to predict hull adherence. We found that samples vary from location to location and year to year in their off-the-combine peeling; and this confounded our ability to predict lines that had less potential to peel.
However when we used the prediction equation we were able to spread the samples out and differentiate between peelers and non-peelers. In our advance breeding multi-location testing we have found that CDC Dolly consistently is a non-peeler while Harrington is consistently a peeler. We are able to discard malting lines with poor hull adherence. On the other side we are able to use this equation to pick out hulless lines that have good threshability!
Scald caused by Rhynchosporium secalis and net blotch caused by Pyrenophora teres are two major barley diseases in Alberta. These two diseases have been found to infect barley in the same field and on the same plant, causing substantial yield and quality losses. The interaction of the two diseases was evaluated in five yield trials, each seeded in two dates. These trials were carried out at Lacombe in 2001 and at Stettler in 2001 or 2003. Plot entries consisting of commercial cultivars and breeding lines with varying levels of resistance and susceptibility were naturally infected by scald and net blotch.
Disease assessment was made using a 0-9 scale at the soft dough stage of barley. Higher scald severity was observed on susceptible cultivars in early-seeded plots in comparison to those in late-seeded plots of all five trials. Similar levels of net blotch were found for both seeding dates. There was a weakly negative correlation in disease severity between scald and net blotch. For disease management, early seeding of scald susceptible cultivars should be avoided in previously scald-infested fields but the time of seeding will not significantly affect net blotch development.
Scald of barley, has theability to rapidly change its pathogen pathotype composition and frequency. This has made it difficult to develop durable scald resistance in barley. Previous studies have shown that the cultivar, Seebe carries a more durable genetic resistance however, barley breeders have found this trait difficult to transfer into new barley lines. Therefore, we are trying to develop molecular markers for scald resistance from Seebe. Recombinant inbred lines were created from the genetic cross of Harrington (scald susceptible) and Seebe (scald resistant). Progeny of about 175 individual F2 seedlings were advanced by single-seed descent to the F8 generation. Disease resistance to scald was phenotyped at the seedling stage in a green house with a major scald race. By utilizing bulked segregant analysis, resistant and susceptible pooled populations were compared by AFLP analysis. A total of 255 AFLP primer combinations were used to analyze the genetic population and several, EcoRI-MseI and PstI-MseI fragments were found linked to scald disease resistance. These AFLP fragments identified are currently being verified, sequenced and transformed into a site-specific marker. Also, AFLP and SSRs markers are being used to map the putative scald resistance genomic location.
Breeding lines and cooperative trial entries were evaluated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Lacombe for resistance to common root rot for western Canadian barley breeding programs. As well AAFC staff coordinated the inoculation of breeding material with loose smut. Inoculated material was then grown out by AAFRD staff and screened for resistance to loose smut using growth room facilities at AAFRD Lacombe. Staff from AAFC Lacombe also inoculated barley lines with covered smut using a vacuum inoculation technique. Inoculated material was then planted and grown out by AAFRD Lacombe during the summer of 2003.
Large-scale hill plot nurseries to screen for resistance to scald were again conducted at both Lacombe and Edmonton. The Edmonton scald-screening site was located on plot land at AAFRD’s Crop Diversification Centre, North a move from the University of Alberta due to the retirement of Plant Pathologist Dr. J.P. Tewari. AAFRD breeding lines and currently registered varieties with resistance to scald were evaluated for scald resistance on three dates during the summer of 2003 starting in early July.
Extremely dry conditions at Lacombe precluded the development of significant levels of disease. At Lacombe in the AAFRD material, average levels of disease were 0.8 with a maximum rating of 4.0 on the 0-9 scale. The Edmonton nursery site received more rainfall and as a consequence disease development at Edmonton was very satisfactory with rapid disease development from the first to the third rating dates. Higher levels of disease were observed with average levels of approximately 4.9 with a minimum rating of 0 and a maximum rating of 9.0.
Approximately 13.4% of the breeding lines had ratings equal to 0, while 31.9% had ratings of greater than zero, but less than or equal to 3, 15.1% had ratings of greater than 3, but less than or equal to 5, while 53.1% had ratings of greater than 5. At the Edmonton site, check lines including ‘Kasota’, BT562 (Manny), ‘CDC Earl’, ‘Falcon’, AC Lacombe and Harrington had ratings of 0, 1.2, 2.4, 6.4, 6.5 and 8.7, respectively. A four-replicate trial of all commercially available cultivars with some level of scald resistance was again conducted at both screening sites to assess changes in cultivar reactions and the durability of resistance. Disease levels at Lacombe were low, while at Edmonton, levels were much higher and permitted differentiation of cultivars. Average levels of scald in this trial were 3.2 on the 0-9 scale with a range of 0 to 8. The cultivars BT562 (Manny), ‘Jaeger’, ‘Niobe’, ‘Mahigan’, Kasota and Seebe had ratings of 0, 0, 0.5, 0.8, 1.3 and 2.5, respectively, while Harrington had a rating of 8. Scald screening data were tabulated and sent to cooperating breeding programs for their information and use regarding advancement of material and the genetics of resistance.