National Barley Cluster: Activity 4 – Breeding barley for high yield and resistance to Fusarium head blight for eastern Canada

Objectives:

• Develop feed barley varieties in two-row and six-row type with high yield, and improved resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB).
• Evaluate advanced barley lines developed in western Canada for their adaptability and suitability in eastern Canada.
• Screening of advanced barley lines and germplasm for resistance to FHB in the disease nursery.

Impacts:

• Seven new barley varieties were developed and commercialized for eastern Canadian growers. The development and release of highly productive and FHB-resistant barley varieties in two-row and six-row type for the barley industry will provide significant benefits to farmers with enhanced productivity and environmental sustainability.
• The evaluation of western Canadian advanced barley lines in eastern Canada helps identify whether any western Canadian advanced lines are suitably adapted to eastern Canada. This also provides the opportunity to improve the genetic diversity of eastern Canadian barley by hybridizing elite eastern Canadian cultivars with elite western Canadian cultivars.
• The development of FHB resistant barley cultivars will allow farmers to combat the rapid spread and economic damages that FHB poses to barley production in eastern Canada.

Scientific Summary:

Barley is an important part of crop rotation and is one of the top five crops in eastern Canada by acreage. FHB is the biggest threat to barley grown in eastern Canada. This destructive fungal disease produces mycotoxins, including deoxynivalenol (DON), which is harmful to human and animal health. As DON contamination occurs frequently across eastern Canada, development of high-yielding, FHB-resistant barley cultivars is important. An important goal of the Ottawa barley breeding program is to develop new barley cultivars suitable for new markets, providing more opportunities for growers in eastern Canada. Another area of breeding focus is on developing a malt barley variety that can provide growers with higher profit by selling barley grain to local maltsters.

The overall aim of the project was to develop new barley varieties for eastern Canadian barley growers. Within the barley cluster project duration seven new barley varieties were developed and commercialized for eastern Canadian growers in different market classes. Six cultivars were licensed to SeCan, and one cultivar was licensed to Eastern Grain Inc.

AAC Bell and AAC Ling were both in farmers’ fields starting with the 2021 field season. AAC Madawaska certified seed sales began in 2023. AAC Bell, AAC Ling, AAC Madawaska, and AAC Sorel did very well in the Quebec registration trials, especially in Zone 3. AAC Bell and AAC Ling performed exceptionally well in the Maritimes. AAC Ling was the top barley yield winner in an annual competition connected to the Yield Enhancement Network in the Maritimes, producing a yield of 2.49 tons/acre.

550 advanced lines from western Canada barley breeding programs were also evaluated to understand their adaptability and suitability in eastern Canada. From these evaluations, more than 10 lines were used in the crossing blocks.

12,000 breeding lines from the Ottawa barley breeding program and western Canada breeding programs were screened in the artificial FHB nurseries in Ottawa. Five lines with high and stable FHB resistance similar to that of the resistant checks were identified.

In collaboration with Wubishet Bekele, Research Scientist Ottawa Research and Development Centre (ORDC), genomic selection model calibration was initiated to start predicting line performance. The training population was updated with phenotypic and genomic data from preliminary yield trials in 2022. In total, both phenotypic and genotypic data of 470 lines from two locations, Ottawa, and Harrington, were added in the training set. The updated training data was used for predicting performance of F4 lines from the single-row plots in the field since 2022. In total, tissue samples were collected from 1200 F4 lines, genotyped with SNP genotyping at Laval University, and used for the genomic prediction in 2022.

External Funding Partners:

Funding for the National Barley Cluster was provided by the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada AgriScience Program through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (2018-2023), with industry funding support from the Canadian Field Crop Research Alliance (CFCRA), whose members interested in eastern Canadian barley include: Atlantic Grains Council; Producteurs de grains du Quebec; Grain Farmers of Ontario; and SeCan.

Project Related Publications:

Khanal, R. and Badea, A. 2021. Evaluation of barley testing locations in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 102(2): 414-418.

Khanal, R., Choo, T.M., Ter Beek, S. and Pageau, D. 2020. AAC Madawaska barley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 101(3): 417-420.

Khanal, R., Choo, T.M., Ter Beek, S., MacDonald, D., Scott, P., Dion, Y., Rioux, S. and Pageau, D. 2019. AAC Ling barley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 100(1): 113-116.

Khanal, R., Choo, T.M., Ter Beek, S., MacDonald, D., Scott, P., Dion, Y., Rioux, S. and Pageau, D. 2019. AAC Bell barley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 100(1): 117-120.

Khanal, R., Choo, T.M., Martin, R., Xue, A., Beek, S.T., MacDonald, D. and Scott, P. 2018. AAC Bloomfield barley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 98(3): 796-798.

Khanal, R., Copley, T., ter Beek, S. and Choo, T.M. 2022. AAC Sorel barley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 102(6): 1213-1216.

Khanal, R., Hudson, K., Foster, A., Wang, X., Brauer, E.K., Witte, T.E., Overy, D.P. 2024. Pathogenicity and metabolomic characterization of Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium poae challenge in barley under controlled conditions. Journal of Fungi. 10:670.

Khanal, R., MacEachern, D., Badea, A., Copley, T. and Telmosse, G. 2024. AAC Choo spring barley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science.

Khanal, R., Mills, A., Choo, T. M., Fillmore, S., Pageau, D., and Mountain, M. 2022. Optimum seeding rates for hulless barley production in eastern Canada. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 102(6): 1177-1184.

Khanal, R., Thomas, S., Morrison, H., Beek, S.T., Tucker, J.R., Badea, A. and Choo, T.M. 2022. AAC Cranbrook spring barley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 102(6): 1209-1212.