Developing winter barley adapted for production in Ontario

Objectives:

• Generate an international collection of winter barley from sources in Canada, USA, and Europe.
• Evaluate winter barley introductions at three Ontario locations (Harrow, Woodstock, and Elora) for agronomic suitability including winter survival, maturity, lodging resistance and grain yield potential.
• Evaluate resistance in the winter barley collection to important diseases including barley yellow dwarf virus, leaf rust, stem rust, net blotch, and scald.

• Evaluate Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance of selected elite winter barley lines using artificial inoculation.

Impacts:

• The evaluation of a diverse collection of superior winter barley germplasm with the aim to identify lines with agronomic and disease resistance characteristics suitable for production in Ontario will provide a germplasm base for winter barley cultivar development suitable for feed and food markets, which could provide novel economic opportunities for Ontario’s grain farmers.

Project Overview:

Barley is an important crop with global production of 156.41 million metric tonnes (t) in 2019. In Canada, the total seeded area of barley in 2019 was 2.99 million ha, with 95% of production in western Canada. In 2020, only 113,200 t of barley was produced in Ontario, which represents a drop of 29% in spring barley tonnage from 159,000 t in 2015. Barley is used for livestock, pet and human consumption in Ontario; however, the decline in spring barley acreage and production has resulted in a shortfall in locally produced barley for both feed and food purposes. At the time when the project started, approximately 2,000 ha of winter barley were grown in Ontario. Winter barley represents an innovative avenue to increase Ontario-grown barley production. In addition, Ontario producers are searching for opportunities to diversify rotations and improve opportunities for double cropping.

The development of new winter barley varieties will benefit producers by diversifying their options of beneficial fall-sown crops. In addition, the inclusion of winter barley in crop rotations will have many agronomic benefits: 1) providing higher grain yield potential than spring-sown barley, 2) reduction of field erosion and topsoil losses due to winter and spring runoff, 3) break up of disease and pest cycles compared to a straight corn-soybean cropping system, 4) provide the opportunity to use alternative herbicide and fungicide chemistries to reduce the buildup of weed and pathogen resistance, 5) offer an opportunity to control glyphosate-resistant weeds and volunteer glyphosate-resistant corn or soybeans, 6) because winter barley matures earlier than winter wheat it will more effectively spread out workload associated with seeding and harvest for farm operations, and 7) winter barley will provide a true double cropping opportunity when combined with an early-maturing legume such as soybean or pea. 

Results:

Two winter barley collections were evaluated. The “Plant Gene Resources (PGR) Collection” consisted of 208 winter barley lines from a variety of countries including Canada, USA, Russia, Ukraine, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and South Korea. The collection includes both 2-row and 6-row winter barley varieties. Most entries were covered winter barleys but several hull-less winter barley accessions/varieties were included as well. The “OLDS Collection” included 199 winter barley lines sourced from the Oregon State winter barley breeding program and approximately 140 winter barley cultivars developed in either the USA or Europe.

In 2022, the entire PGR Collection was evaluated in hill plots at the AAFC R&D Centre in Harrow, Ontario. There was wide variation in agronomic performance. For example, winter survival ranged from 0-100% in the full PGR collection and grain yield ranged from 0.8 g to 96 g per hill plot at Harrow. The best lines were further evaluated in 2023 and 2024. In 2024, the best 20 lines from the PGR Collection were yield tested at Harrow and Elora in the 2023-24 Winter Barley Preliminary Test. Excellent winter survival (>90%) was observed among the 20 selected PGR lines. Mean heading date of the PGR lines was Julian day 125 which was, on average, one day earlier than the winter barley check mean. Early maturity among the PGR collection lines maybe useful to develop earlier-maturing Ontario-adapted winter barley varieties. Extreme early maturity, compared to winter wheat, is a critical attribute for winter barley, allowing the crop to avoid excessive summer heat, and it can also facilitate double cropping. The PGR Collection material was 13.8 cm taller on average than winter barley checks and high lodging was recorded, particularly at Harrow. Winter barley checks were higher yielding than Collection lines, and the cultivar ‘Visuel’ was significantly higher yielding (P<0.05) than all PGR Collection entries. These results were not surprising because the PGR Collection consisted largely of landraces, old breeding lines and heritage winter barley varieties, whereas checks are recently registered winter barley varieties. Results demonstrate that considerable breeding progress has been made in winter barley; however, heritage germplasm maybe useful to improve traits such as earlier maturity.

The OLDS Collection consisted primarily of North American varieties and breeding lines as well as European varieties largely developed in the past 15 years. Similar to the PGR Collection, the OLDS Collection included both feed and malting quality 2-row and 6-row winter entries. In 2023, the entire 199 entry OLDS Collection was evaluated in hill plot nurseries at both Harrow (AAFC) and Elora (University of Guelph). Mean heading date at Harrow was Julian date 146, whereas at Elora mean heading date was Julian date 155. Delayed heading in cooler Ontario growing regions (Elora is in winter wheat seeding Zone G) may reduce the opportunity for double cropping after winter barley. In 2024, 82 selected entries from the OLDS Collection and 8 checks were evaluated in short row nurseries at Harrow (AAFC) and Elora (University of Guelph). Among the selected OLDS Collection lines, 49% had winter survival superior to the mean of the checks suggesting the OLDS Collection could be used to provide improved winter hardiness compared to presently available winter barley varieties. In general, the OLDS Collection lines were later maturing than checks, ranging from Julian date 125 to 137. A negative correlation (r = -0.54) between winter survival and heading date was observed suggesting that selection for high winter survival would also permit selection for earlier heading, which is critical to permit double cropping. Forty-three percent of the OLDS Collection lines had lodging scores less than or equal to 1. In contrast to the PGR Collection, much of the OLDS Collection germplasm could be used in winter barley breeding without concern of linkage drag associated with poor straw strength.

Disease incidence in the PGR Collection and the OLDS Collection short rows was dependent on natural infection; thus, different diseases or levels of incidence were recorded at Harrow and Guelph. At both locations, diseases were scored using a 0-9 scale. In general, checks had lower stripe rust scores than entries in the PGR collection. In contrast to stripe rust, the checks generally had higher incidence of net spot compared to the PGR entries. Ratings within the OLDS Collection for leaf rust at Elora ranged from 1 to 8 and most winter barley checks were intermediate, scoring on average 3.5 out of 9. Three entries from the OLDS Collection scored 1 for leaf rust (Elan, Druid and Peridot) suggesting these varieties likely possess effective genes for leaf rust resistance.  In addition, ‘Druid’ also appears to possess effective resistance to powdery mildew.

Entries of the PGR Collection evaluated in the 2023-24 Winter Barley Preliminary test were also evaluated for “Type II” Fusarium head blight resistance, which is resistance to spread in the spike, at the University of Guelph in winter 2024-25. In general, the selected PGR Collection lines were more susceptible than the winter barley checks. FHB severity ratings for PGR collection lines ranged from 19% to 65% with an average severity rating of 48%, compared to mean severity of 30% for winter barley checks. The winter wheat cultivar ‘Branson” showed a higher level of “type II” resistance scoring ly 11%. From this test, it appears winter barley may have a lower type II FHB resistance compared to winter wheat; however, the winter barley experimental line ‘SC18-012WB’ had a FHB severity of 12%, similar to ‘Branson’ winter wheat. Further field evaluation should be conducted to evaluate whether the extreme early maturity of winter barley compared to winter wheat will permit winter barley to avoid initial FHB infestation because winter barley flowers in early May before the warm, moist conditions needed for optimal FHB infection are present in southern Ontario.     

In summary, valuable germplasm was identified in both the PGR and OLDS Collections; however, the OLDS Collection appeared to be agronomically more desirable and possessed greater disease resistance, including entries that had low disease incidence for multiple diseases (e.g., MO_B2301, Druid). Future winter barley breeding should aim to combine the superior agronomics of newly registered varieties with the improved disease resistance found in the collections. Because the disease resistance was effective against fungal races present in Ontario, the winter barley germplasm may also be useful for spring barley improvement.

External Funding Partners:

SeCan

Cribit Seeds

Project Related Publications:

None.