Malheur Experiment Station Information for Sustainable Agriculture

2007 PERFORMANCE OF WINTER BARLEY (Hordeum vulgare ssp.vulgare)

AND SPRING WAXY BARLEY VARIETIES PLANTED IN THE FALL

O. Steven Norberg

Malheur County Extension Service

Clinton C. Shock, Lamont D. Saunders, and Eric P. Eldredge

Malheur Experiment Station

Oregon State University

Ontario, OR

Andrew Ross, Pat Hayes, and Juan Rey

Oregon State University

Corvallis, OR

Introduction

In December of 2005, the Food and Drug Administration ruled that barley could have the same health food claim as oats, in that, if enough barley beta-glucan soluble fiber was consumed, it would reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (Federal Register 2005). A high beta-glucan variety, 'Salute', is available from Western Plant Breeders (Bozeman, MT). Western Plant Breeders applied for plant variety protection on February 26, 2007 and the application is currently pending (U.S. Plant Variety Protection Office). Waxy starch is another favorable trait for food barley that is available in released varieties, and demand for waxy barley starch may increase. Waxy barley grain has starch that is characterized by lower amylase and higher amylopectin content than traditional barley. Waxy starch has properties that may benefit the snack food industry, such as longer shelf life and crispier texture.

Higher protein barley may also be beneficial as it would increase the nutritional value of the grain. Very little research has been done on growing food barley for high protein or the protein response of food barley varieties to nitrogen application. Previous barley variety evaluations at the University of Idaho at Parma have shown that 'Merlin', Salute and 'YU599-006', the spring genotypes developed by Western Plant Breeders, are among the highest yielding waxy cultivars available (Brown 2006). Salute (two-row barley) and YU599-006 (six-row barley) contain higher levels of beta-glucan than normal. Merlin is a two-rowed hull-less waxy barley but is not considered a high beta-glucan barley.

A winter barley genotype would work best in local crop rotational systems due to higher yields and would compete with wheat and corn acres for profitability. Unfortunately, right now there are no winter waxy barley cultivars available. Pat Hayes, barley breeder at Oregon State University (OSU), has started a winter waxy breeding project but no varieties are available yet. The best performing winter feed barley varieties for the irrigated Treasure Valley are 'Strider' and 'Maja' (Stab113), released by OSU, 'Eight-Twelve' released by the USDA-ARS at Aberdeen, and 'Sunstar Pride' released by Sunderman Breeding.

The purpose of this work was to determine winter survival of the fall-planted, spring waxy barley varieties compared to winter feed barley standard varieties. This was the second year for this trial. The first year of the trial was reported in the 2007 Malheur Experiment Station Report (Norberg et al 2007). This trial also compared yield, yield components, test weight, protein, and beta-glucan levels of spring waxy genotypes to the four feed barley varieties when nitrogen (N) was foliarly applied at heading.

Methods

The barley was planted on an Owyhee silt loam at the Malheur Experiment Station in a field that was fallowed the previous year. Seedbed preparation included disking, cultivating, and furrowing during the fall of 2006. Soil samples were collected prior to fall tillage and showed 128 lb N/acre in the top 2 ft of the soil profile. The soil analysis also showed 60 ppm phosphorus (P) (Olson method), 523 ppm potassium (K), 10 ppm sulfate (SO₄), 2,861 ppm calcium (Ca), 363 ppm magnesium (Mg), 0.7 ppm zinc (Zn), 3 ppm iron (Fe), 3 ppm magnesium (Mn), 0.3 ppm copper (Cu), 0.4 ppm boron (B), and 1.5 percent organic matter in the top 12 inches. The barley varieties were planted on October 19, 2006 using a plot drill on 30-inch beds with 3 rows per bed. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with four replications. Plot size was 5 ft wide by 20 ft long.

Urea nitrogen was applied in the spring of 2007 at 100 lb N/acre on February 23, 2007. Visual plant stand estimates were made on April 27, 2007 with ratings from 0 to 100 percent (0 = no plants, 100 = perfect stand). Eight flag leaves were taken from all plots and combined into one sample for each variety on May 25 for total N analysis at Brookside Laboratory, New Knoxville, Ohio. A heading N application of 40 lb N/acre of fluid urea was made on May 30, 2007, when most varieties had reached 50 percent heading.

The trial was sprayed for weed control with Buctril^® at1 qt/acre on March 15, 2007 and again with Bronate^® applied at 1 qt/acre on April 3, 2007. The trial was furrow irrigated for 24 hours on April 19, May 10, May 24, June 5, and June 19. Plant height was measured on June 13 at four locations within the plot with a yard stick. Lodging was estimated on July 12, 2007 by estimating the percent of the plot that was leaning more than a 45 degree angle. Plots were trimmed with a sickle mower to square them up and help eliminate border effects. The plots were harvested with a Hege combine on July 19.

Response variables were compared using ANOVA and protected least significant differences at the 5 percent probability, LSD (0.05). Differences between response variables should be equal to or greater than the corresponding LSD (0.05) value before any variety is considered different from another in this trial.

Results

Stands of Salute (13 percent), Merlin (29 percent) and YU599-006 (56 percent) were significantly less than the winter varieties in 2007, which ranged from 96 to 98 percent (Table 1). Reductions in stands occurred in 2006 but were not as pronounced. Averaged over both years, Salute and Merlin had about 50 percent stand reduction compared to winter varieties and showed an unacceptable level of winter damage. At heading, birds ate the grain from the two-rowed barleys (Salute and Merlin). Since the plots had just been irrigated, application of bird netting was delayed 4 days, and during this time considerable damage was done to the heads of Merlin and Salute. In very small fields, birds can present a significant problem. However, it has been our experience that in larger fields bird damage is not as significant. After experiencing poor winter stand survival and bird losses, Merlin and Salute yields in 2007 were less than one-third of Sunstar Pride (195.8 bu/acre), which was the highest yielding winter variety (Table 2). Sunstar Pride had the highest yield in 2006 as well. Averaged over years, Salute and Merlin yielded less than one-half of the winter varieties.

This is the first comprehensive examination of beta-glucan levels for winter barley varieties typically grown in the Treasure Valley. YU599-006 had a significantly higher level of beta-glucan, 7.31 percent, than any other variety in the experiment (Table 2). For the value-added beta-glucan market, YU599-006 would be the variety of choice, as it was 2.2 percent higher than Salute or Merlin. YU599-006 was not included in the 2006 trial, and beta-glucan levels were only tested in 2007. YU599-006 is short, with plant height of about 29 inches (Table 2.); birds did not bother it in this experiment. In general, birds do not bother six-row barleys as the awns make it harder for birds to eat the grain (Brown 2006). The short plant height would reduce lodging problems with added N fertilizers, especially if high protein barley is desirable and profitable.

In 2007, Salute, Merlin, and YU599-006 had higher protein than the winter types, with Merlin reaching 16.3 percent protein. Unfortunately, varieties with the highest yields had lower protein. More nitrogen than was used in this experiment would have to be applied to the higher yielding barley varieties for higher protein. In the 2007 experiment, 268 lb of N was available to the barley, including the 40 lb/acre foliarly applied.

Conclusion

The spring barley varieties planted in this experiment are not sufficiently winter hardy to be fall planted in the Treasure Valley. A significant price incentive would be required to overcome the yield decrease of planting Merlin, Salute, or YU599-006 in the spring compared to Sunstar Pride or Strider in the fall. Further breeding research is needed to develop winter waxy, high beta-glucan barley genotypes for the Treasure Valley.

References

Brown, B. 2006. Cereal Sentinel Newsletter. February 26, 2006 41:8-9. http://agweb.ag.uidaho.edu/swidaho/Newsletters/Sentinel41.pdf

Federal Register. 2005. Food labeling: health claims; soluble dietary fiber from certain foods and coronary heart disease. December 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 246): Pages 76150-76162.

Norberg, O., C. Shock, L. Saunders, E. Eldredge, A. Ross, P. Hayes, and J. Ray. 2007. Performance of winter barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare) and spring waxy barley varieties planted in the fall. Oregon State University Agriculture Experiment Station Special Report 1075:157-159.

U.S. Plant Variety Protection Office: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/pvplist.pl

Table 1. Barley stand comparisons showing maturity, heading date, and plant height at the Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Ontario, OR, 2006 and 2007.

^aW = winter, S = spring, HB = high beta-glucan, Wx = waxy starch, HL = hull-less.

^bN/A = Not available since not replicated.

Table 2. A comparison showing barley yield and quality results, Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Ontario, OR, 2006 and 2007.

^aW = winter, S = spring, HB = high beta-glucan, Wx = waxy starch, HL = hull-less.

^bYield is corrected to a 12 percent moisture basis, bu = 48 lb.

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Last updated  Tuesday June 28, 2011.