Alberta, Canada

2005 Synopsis of Alberta Barley Production, Research and Development

J.M. Nyachiro¹*, K. Turkington², K. Xi¹, J.H. Helm¹, P.E Juskiw¹, D.F. Salmon¹, J.L. Zantinge¹, and M. Oro¹

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

2005 Alberta Barley Production

Most barley growing regions of Alberta had adequate moisture conditions in 2005. The crop season growing conditions in 2005 were favorable and comparable to 2004. However, unfavorable cool and wet weather conditions in the fall delayed harvesting causing pre-harvest sprouting damage and decreased grain quality.

Alberta accounts for about 50% of the total area for all barley grown in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, Alberta barley farmers seeded about 4.5 million acres (1.82 million ha) of barley in 2005, slightly less, than the 4.9 million acres (1.98 million ha) of barley in 2004, and less than the 5.4 million acres (2.7 million ha) seeded in 2003. The 2005 Alberta barley acreage was about 7% lower than the 10-year average. Total barley production in Alberta in 2005 was estimated at 5.57 million tonnes, which was on par with the 10-year average. This was 5% lower compared to the 2004 barley grain production of 5.84 million tonnes and comparable to 5.53 million tonnes in 2003. The Alberta average yield of barley in 2005 was estimated to be 66.7 bu/acre (3.6 t/ha) compared to 65.4 bu/acre (3.5 t/ha) in 2004, 56.4 bu/acre (3.0 t/ha) in 2003, and the 10-year average of 57.7 bu/acre (3.1 /ha). The 16% above the 10-year barley grain yield average is partly attributed to a combination of favorable weather-crop growing conditions, high production efficiency (management) and growing of high-yielding barley varieties.

Breeding Program

In 2005, ‘Sundre’ barley was released and registered.

Sundre Barley (formerly test line BT 566)

Sundre (Hordeum vulgare L.) is a six-rowed, smooth-awned, with purplish auricles, hulled feed barley developed by the Field Crop Development Centre (FCDC) of Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AAFRD) in Lacombe. It has a yellow aleurone and a long rachilla with long hair. The pedigree of Sundre is: BT636/‘Tukwa’. BT 566 has high grain and silage yields in central Alberta, with good kernel weight and seed plumpness. Sundre was tested in the Western Cooperative Barley Trials as BT 566 and in FCDC trials as H92068001. In FCDC silage trials, BT 566 out-yielded the high yielding six-rowed varieties ‘Vivar’ and ‘AC Lacombe’. These characteristics make Sundre a desirable multi-purpose variety for the livestock industry. BT 566 has multiple gene resistance to scald, as shown in multi-station, multi-year trials. It has resistance to covered smut and false loose smut. Detailed descriptions of Sundre barley will be published in Crop Science journal.

2005 Disease Situation and Screening

Hill plot nurseries – 2005

Large-scale hill plot nurseries to screen for resistance to scald were conducted at both Lacombe and Edmonton, ALberta. At Lacombe the AAFRD material had average levels of disease of 5.7 with a minimum rating of 0 and a maximum rating of 9.0 on a 0-9 scale. At the Edmonton nursery site, average levels of scald were 3.5 with a minimum rating of 0 and a maximum rating of 9.0. At Lacombe, approximately 3.6% of the breeding lines had ratings equal to 0, while 13.2% had ratings of greater than zero, but less than or equal to 3, 14.9% had ratings of greater than 3, but less than or equal to 5, while 68.4% had ratings of greater than 5. At Edmonton, approximately 23.4% of the breeding lines had ratings equal to 0, while 21.1% had ratings of greater than zero, but less than or equal to 3, 20.3% had ratings of greater than 3, but less than or equal to 5, while 35.2% had ratings of greater than 5. Lines with ratings from 0-3 are generally considered to be resistant, while lines with ratings of >5 are moderately susceptible to susceptible, and lines with ratings of 4 or 5 have intermediate levels of resistance. Check lines including AC Lacombe, ‘CDC Earl’, ‘Harrington’, ‘Manny’, ‘Merit’, ‘Niobe’, ‘Ponoka’, and ‘Seebe’ had ratings of 7.2, 8.1, 7.7, 1.9, 6.5, 8.0, 4.9, and 1.6, respectively, at Lacombe; while at Edmonton ratings were 4.6, 5.9, 6.0, 0.0, 7.0, 6.5, 1.3, and 0.4, 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. Average levels of scald in this trial were 5.7 and 3.6 on the 0-9 scale at Lacombe and Edmonton, respectively. At Lacombe, the cultivars ‘Jaeger’, ‘Kasota’, Manny, Niobe, Ponoka, Seebe, and ‘Trochu’ had ratings of 6.5, 3.8, 3.0, 7.3, 3.8, 3.0, and 7.0, while Harrington had a rating of 7.3. At Edmonton, the cultivars Jaeger, Kasota, Manny, Niobe, Ponoka, Seebe, and Trochu had ratings of 4.0, 0.0, 0.0, 6.0, 0.5, 0.8, and 3.3, while Harrington had a rating of 6.0. 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.

Barley diseases in yield, coop, regional and race variation trials - 2005

The severity of leaf disease on barley, wheat and triticale was assessed in a total of 1,666 plots from coop, yield and regional tests. Scald of barley was the major leaf disease and was generally intermediate to high in severity at Calmar and Olds screening sites, but the levels of disease also varied with individual tests. The Lacombe site showed low to intermediate levels of scald and had an intermediate level of net blotch. The Trochu site was low in scald and thus no differentiation in scald reactions was possible. Net blotch was the prevalent disease in the B2R2L and B6R2L tests. As a result, the severity of scald was assessed in the majority of tests, while net blotch was assessed in the B2R2L and B6R2L tests using a 0-9 scale. Notes were also made on other diseases if they were severe on individual entries while the dominant disease was evaluated. A few barley plots were moderately infected by stripe rust at the Lacombe site and some plots were severely infected at the Edmonton scald nursery. Similar to the disease reactions from previous years, scald was more severe in the coop and regional trials than in the yield trials, indicating that susceptibility of the entries resulted from the lack of genetic resistance. An example of this was demonstrated by the entries HB116-118 in the coop trial, which consistently showed relatively higher levels of scald across most test locations. Most entries in the yield trials had low to moderate levels of scald except for Vivar and Xena that were rated 6 and 5, respectively, at the Calmar site. Moderate to high levels of scald resulted in the ability to differentiate scald reactions among entries in most of the tests evaluated. The BFC2L test was assessed for scald for the first time and the result showed that all entries had substantially lower levels of scald compared with varieties ‘Sebastian’ and Harrington. Scald differentials in race variation tests at Lacombe and Calmar in 2005 had slightly more severe scald compared with that in 2004. Analyses will be carried out to determine if differences among years and differentials are statistically significant.

Partnerships

Field Crop Development Centre (FCDC) has maintains collaboration with the ICARDA/CIMMYT barley program in Mexico as part of the effort to develop superior barley genetic stocks with multiple disease resistances. Through other multiple partnerships, thousands of barley lines have been screened over multiple locations (one nursery each in Mexico, Lacombe and Edmonton) and in multiple years for scald resistance. Loose and covered smuts were screened in Lacombe, and net blotch was screened in nurseries in Brandon (AAFC) and Saskatoon (University of Saskatchewan/Crop Development Centre). A wide range of selected lines were screened for FHB and spot blotch at Brandon and Mexico.

Reactions to stripe rust and barley yellow dwarf virus were assessed in Mexico and there are future plans of developing a strong collaboration with Washington State University purposely for the enhancement of stripe rust research. In recent years, stripe rust infection and severity seem to increase in both research and farmer’s fields. These worrying signs indicate that stripe rust should not be ignored as a minor disease of cereal crops in Alberta and western Canada in general.