mnbarley


	Issue 40 November 2001


	Prairie Grains is the official publication of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers, North Dakota Grain Growers Association and South Dakota Wheat, Inc.

Copyright Prairie Grains Magazine November 2001




	MINNESOTA BARLEY VARIETY TRIALS *Kevin Smith, John Wiersma, Ruth Dill-Macky and Ed Schiefelbein* ‘Robust’ continues to be the dominant barley variety grown in Minnesota occupying 74% of the acreage, followed by ‘Lacey’ (10%), ‘Stander’ (7%), ‘Royal’ (2%), ‘Morex’ (2%), and the two-rowed variety ‘Conlon’ (1%). Growing conditions were variable across the five test locations for barley variety trials. Roseau, Morris and St. Paul had higher than average yields (Table 4). Crookston had average yields despite severe storms towards the end of the season and strong lodging pressure. Stephen had much lower yields, due in part, to late planting because of a very wet spring. The yield data in Table 4 were collected from advanced yield trials that contain the important varieties for the region planted in five locations in the state. Agronomic and Yield Data Yield and agronomic data are presented in Tables 4 and 5, respectively. ‘Stander’ and ‘Lacey’ were the highest yielding varieties based on three-year averages. The three newest varieties ‘Lacey,’ ‘Legacy,’ and ‘Drummond’ all yielded more than the dominant variety ‘Robust’ by, 12%, 8%, and 4%, respectively. ‘Drummond’ is the most lodging resistant of the group, while ‘Stander’ and ‘Legacy’ are the latest to mature. All of the newly released varieties are shorter than Robust, while Drummond and Lacey are similar to or better than ‘Robust’ in percentage plump kernels. Malting and Brewing Quality Two new varieties, ‘Lacey’ developed by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station and ‘Legacy’ developed by Busch-Agricultural Resources Inc., have been added to the AMBA list of approved malting varieties. ‘Lacey’ received two years of favorable brewing evaluation from Miller Brewing Co. and Miller requested that ‘Lacey’ be added to the list of approved varieties. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. has not completed its second year evaluation of ‘Lacey’ with the 2000 crop and may require a third year of testing with the 2001 crop. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. currently has no plans to utilize ‘Lacey’ commercially since their testing is not complete. ‘Legacy’ has received satisfactory evaluations in two years of evaluation by Anheuser-Busch, Inc., however Miller Brewing Co. has not finished its evaluation.

Table 4. Relative grain yield of six row barley varieties in Minnesota in single year (2001) and multiple year (1999-2001) comparisons.
	Crookston		Morris		Stephen		St. Paul		Roseau		State
	1 yr	3yr	1yr	3yr	1yr	3yr	1yr	3yr	1yr	3yr	1yr	3yr
Variety	% of mean
Morex	92	92	86	87	91	87	76	87	102	88	89	88
Foster	94	98	104	100	115	109	99	105	92	106	101	103
Robust	101	97	92	95	95	96	93	97	99	88	96	95
MN Brite	97	100	100	105	95	92	96	93	88	97	95	98
Lacey	105	107	98	108	96	105	120	107	103	104	105	106
Drummond	106	97	109	96	72	82	109	107	96	101	98	98
Excel	106	-	101	-	112	107	101	-	109	-	106	-
Strander	109	108	107	101	121	114	111	104	103	109	110	107
Legacy	91	96	102	101	104	109	95	99	109	-	100	-
LSD (0.05)	91	96	102	101	104	109	95	99	109	-	100	-
Mean (bu/A)	100	101	97	91	53	67	86	81	105	90	88	87
¹ Varieties are listed from earlist to latest heading date.

Table 5. Agronomic characteristics of six row barley varieties in Minnesota in multiple year comparisons (1999-2001).
Variety ¹	Type	Days to Heading	Plant Ht Inches	Straw Strength	% Plump
Morex	Malt	57	35	wk	70
Foster	Malt	57	34	strg	80
Robust	Malt	58	36	med	77
MN Brite	Feed	58	35	med	75
Lacey	Malt	58	33	strg	79
Drummond	Feed ²	58	34	v. strg	74
Excel	Malt	59	34	med	75
Stander	Feed	59	32	strg	82
Legacy	Malt	60	34	med	67
¹Varieties are listed from earliest to latest heading date. ²Pending AMBA approval as a malting variety.