Australia: Barley Australia approves four new barley varieties for malting

Four new barley varieties have been approved for malting in Australia, Weekly Times Now reported on March, 28.

Barley Australia has divided accredited malting varieties into "preferred" and "approved" lines.

Barley Australia says that Grange, Henley, Scope and Westminster have received malting accreditation after assessment by the Malting and Brewing Industry Barley Technical Committee.

Approved varieties are all of those that had been accredited for malting or food use.

BA executive chairman Andrew Gee said those on the preferred list were sought by the market.

"If a grower is growing something that is not on our list, it's unlikely it is going to end up getting used by the malting and brewing industry unless it is for a specific small market segment somewhere," Mr Gee said.

Three of the newly accredited malting barley varieties are from European lineage.

Westminster was brought to Australia in 2006 through PGG Wrightson's link with French breeding company Limagrain.

It has been tested under Australian conditions by Grainsearch, based in Victoria's Western District.

Growers in the region reported good yields of westminster last harvest.

It was gaining in popularity in the Western District, taking over from Gairdner, which has now been relegated to food/feed grade.

Grange is another variety bred by Limagrain and distributed in Australia by Heritage Seeds.

The company's product development manager, Richard Prusa, said the malting accreditation was likely to make it suitable for both domestic and international markets.

"Grange is an extremely versatile variety, and while a lot will be grown in the medium-to-high rainfall areas, it also has the ability to produce good grain quality in drier areas," Mr Prusa said

According to the latest Victorian Winter Crop Summary produced through the National Variety Trials, grange is a mid-to-late maturing breed with good yield potential.

Heritage Seeds said it had excellent lodging resistance and a high malt extract.

Limagrain also bred Henley, which was also being marketed by Heritage Seeds.

It was also a mid-to-late maturing variety with good yield potential, strong straw and good kernel plumpness and colour, according to NVT.

Scope is a Clearfield barley breed, described by NVT as a tall, early to mid-season maturing variety with moderate to high yields in a range of medium rainfall environments.

03 April, 2013