Canada: Producer investment create new barley varieties

Producers, through the Western Grains Research Foundation wheat and barley check-off’s, have supported many of the recently registered varieties of barley as well as many of the varieties up for registration, Discovermoosejaw reported February 21.

Western Grains supports many breeding programs from around Western Canada, with both long-term and short-term agreements, leveraging every dollar invested to attain additional government funds that match or double the investment made by producers.

The new barley varieties that have been recently registered:

Millhouse was registered in 2006 and is the first registered variety of its type, containing properties that allow barley grain to be processed in the same fashion as wheat. Millhouse is bred to complement wheat for milling purposes - the advantage lies in the fact that it provides more dietary fibre than wheat, as well as other unique health benefits tied directly to barley. Millhouse was bred at the AAFC research station in Brandon.

Binscarth was developed by the AAFC station in Brandon, and was registered in 2006. Binscarth is a six-row forage barley that has high silage production potential for the Parkland region of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It out yields Virden and AC Ranger by up to 9% across the growing region for forage, and the forage quality is superior to any other forage cultivar. Binscarth also can be used for emergency grazing where needed, as it can be regrazed.

CDC Coalition was registered in 2005 and is a two-row feed variety from the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan (UofS). With good adaptability across Western Canada, it shows top yield potential, excellent straw strength, high test weight and is resistant to stem rust and the smuts.

CDC Aurora Nijo, registered in 2005, is the first variety resulting from a joint barley R&D project bringing together the U of S Crop Development Centre, Sapporo Breweries (Japan) and Prairie Malt Ltd. It is a two-row malting variety with a malting and brewing quality profile suited to processes at Sapporo Breweries in Japan and will be grown under contract in Western Canada for that market. Its performance is similar to Harrington but it has improved straw strength, test weight, plumpness and better net blotch resistance.

21 February, 2007