MN Barley

Kevin Smith, John Wiersma, Ruth Dill-Macky, Jochum Wiersma, Brian Steffenson, Char Hollingsworth, and Ed Schiefelbein

Robust, the 1983 MAES release, remained the dominant barley variety grown in Minnesota with 49% of the acreage.  The acreage of Lacey is steadily increasing and reached 39% in 2005.  Tradition, Legacy, Royal, and Stander share the majority of remainder of the acreage with 2.7, 2.0, 1.9 and 1.4% of the acreage in Minnesota, respectively.

Results of the state yield trials are summarized in Tables 1 through 3.  Tradition, Lacey, and Conlon were the highest yielding varieties based on three year averages (Table 1). Drummond is the most lodging resistant of the group (Table 2). The two-rowed variety Conlon has the plumpest grain while Legacy was a little thinner than the other varieties. All of the more recent varieties (Lacey, Drummond, Legacy, Tradition, and Stellar) are shorter than Robust.

Table 3 describes the reaction of the currently grown varieties to the five major diseases in the region.  Disease reaction is based on at least three years of data and scored from 1 – 9 where 1 is most resistant and 9 is most susceptible. While there are some small differences among the varieties for resistance to some of these diseases, these differences are small and should not be the primary basis for selection among the different varieties. None of the current malting varieties differ in reaction to FHB, however, Stander is slightly more susceptible and MNBrite slightly less susceptible than the others.

There are some important differences among the recently released malting varieties that have been approved by the American Malting Barley Association (AMBA). Lacey (MAES) has been rated acceptable by Miller Brewing Co. Anheuser Busch (AB) has completed its testing of Lacey and rated it unacceptable. Legacy and Tradition (Busch-Agricultural Resources Inc.) have been rated acceptable by AB, but are still being evaluated by Miller.  Drummond (North Dakota State University) has been rated acceptable by both AB and Miller. Conlon is only being used by Miller. Stellar is a new variety and its status on the AMBA approved list is pending ongoing brewing evaluation. 

Growers should keep this information in mind when making plans for planting next spring and marketing grain next fall. The variety utilization picture could change as industry continues evaluations and makes decisions about how to use these new varieties.  AMBA provides periodic updates on the status of new varieties and regularly publishes their list of recommended varieties (see www.ambainc.org ). 

Table 1. Relative grain yield of barley varieties at several locations in MN in single year (2005) and multiple year comparisons (2003-2005).

Variety	Crookston		Morris		Stephen	St. Paul		Roseau	State
	1 yr	3 yr	1 yr	3 yr	2 yr1	1 yr	2 yr2	2 yr1	1 yr	3 yr
	------------------------------------------------------ % of Mean ------------------------------------------------------
Robust	89	82	99	94	90	106	104	98	98	92
Stander	88	96	114	107	94	97	96	108	100	100
MNBrite	107	94	95	98	101	108	99	87	104	95
Lacey	96	98	112	114	98	104	104	109	104	104
Drummond	89	99	100	95	95	111	110	103	100	99
Stellar	98	110	67	93	101	85	90	88	83	99
Legacy	98	98	100	96	104	98	104	110	99	101
Tradition	114	111	114	106	105	112	104	107	113	107
Conlon	121	114	99	97	113	79	90	88	100	103
Mean (bu/A)	77	96	60	97	102	90	102	97	76	98
LSD (0.05)	17	10	35	11	7	12	10	17	12	5
1 Only two years of data, 2003 and 2004.   2  Only two years of data, 2004 and 2005.

Table 2. Agronomic characteristics of barley varieties in MN in multiple year comparisons (2000-2005).

Variety	Type	Use	Days to Heading -- days -	Plant Height- inches -	Lodging	Plump --- % ---	Protein --- % ---
# Environments			18	18	12	17	14
Robust	6-row	Malt	58	35	medium	83	13.2
Stander	6-row	Feed	59	32	strong	85	12.6
MNBrite	6-row	Feed	58	35	medium	83	14.1
Lacey	6-row	Malt	58	33	strong	84	13.1
Drummond	6-row	Malt	58	33	v. strong	81	13.2
Stellar1	6-row	Feed	60	32	strong	85	12.8
Legacy	6-row	Malt	59	34	medium	77	12.9
Tradition2	6-row	Malt	59	34	medium	85	13.8
Conlon2	2-row	Malt	60	31	medium	93	13.6
1 Only two years of plump and protein data, 2000–2001.  2 Only two years of plump and protein data, 2003-2004.

Table 3. Disease reaction¹ of barley varieties in Minnesota in multiple year comparisons (2001 -2005).

Variety	FHB	Net Blotch	Spot Blotch	Septoria Speckled Leaf Blotch	Stem Rust
Robust	8	8	2	9	1
Excel	8	8	2	9	1
Stander	9	8	2	9	1
MNBrite	6	6	1	9	1
Lacey	8	8	2	9	1
Drummond	8	7	2	9	1
Legacy	7	5	2	9	1
Tradition	8	7	2	9	1
1 Most Resistant = 1, Most Susceptible = 9.