Australia: Commander, the recently developed malting barley variety, promises to suit most Australian growers

A new high-yielding, mid to late-maturing barley that has been tested in NSW conditions is attracting experts’ attention, Farm Online communicated on September, 16.

Commander has been developed by the University of Adelaide with support from Australian malting and brewing companies, such as ABB Grain through the Malting Barley Quality Improvement Program and Grains Research and Development Corporation.

This is the first malting variety released following the formation of Barley Breeding Australia and has provisionally been given malt status.

The new variety will be suitable for barley growing regions in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. ABB Seeds has been awarded exclusive marketing rights to the new variety.

ABB Seeds' general manager, Garry Goucher, said Commander was best suited to medium to high rainfall areas.

It had consistently shown plump-sized grain compared to other malting varieties.

"Commander's malt status is provisional but we're expecting it to be confirmed early next year when evaluations of this new variety are finished," he said.

"Importantly, Commander is resistant to cereal cyst nematode (CCN) and moderately resistant to powdery mildew.

"We're very excited about the enormous potential of this variety."

Head of the barley breeding team at the University of Adelaide, Associate Professor Jason Eglinton, said Commander had completed a significant number of commercial scale malting and brewing trials in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland in addition to the industry accreditation testing.

"This successful market development has resulted in confirmation of Joe White Maltings' intention to purchase Commander from the 2009 season," he said.

"Commander will not compete with Flagship and Baudin in high volume export markets of China and Japan.

"It is ideally suited to the Australian brewing industry and some export markets in South East Asia supplied by Australian malting companies.

"Farmers will obviously benefit from higher grain yield, however Commander will also improve the odds of achieving malting specifications due to its lower screenings and lower grain protein levels."

19 September, 2008