Lecture 12 (Barley) Flashcards
Barley acreage and production
The second most important cereal crop in Canada
About 2.5 million hectares in 2018
Annual average production 7.99 million tones in 2018
Mostly spring barley
Used primarily as a livestock feed (cattle, hogs), and brewing and malting industry
90% of Canadian barley is grown in the Prairie Provinces
45.3% malting barley in 2018
51.2% feed barley in 2018
What is the difference between 2-row and 6-row barley?
Two-row: one spikelet per rachis node
Six-Row: three spikelet per rachis node
What is the difference between hulled and hulless barley?
Hulled
- lemma and palea attached to the seed
- not removed through threshing
- approximately 10-15% of the grain weight is hull
Hulless
- lemma and palea loosely adhere to the seed
- removed through threshing
- lower kernel weight, less fiber (non-digestible), improved protein digestibility
Use of barley in Canada
- Feed livestock (55%)
- Silage or dry fodder
- High moisture feed grain
- Hulless, especially for pig feed - Export (20%)
- Malting and distilling (20%)
- Seed (2%)
- Human food/nutraceuticals (0.01%)
Barley types: Feed barley
Definition: anything that does not make grade as malt.
Researchers and producers are trying to change this definition by defining traits that improve animal performance
Currently: industry using bushel weights as indicator of feed quality.
Has little relationship to protein or energy value
Barley types: Silage Barley
Ensiling
- Using the process of fermentation to preserve organic materials (carbohydrates and proteins)
- Requires exclusion of air
Methods
Cut material so it can be packed easily for the exclusion of air (oxygen)
- adequate moisture (60-70% moisture or 30-40% DM)
- small pieces (0.5 to 3.5 cm)
- Pack tightly
- Cover
When to harvest Silage Barley?
Ealier for protein, later for fibre.
- Moisture level is critical for preservation, but can swath and allow material to wilt (dry-down) in the field prior to ensiling
- Quality is directly related to maturity, as the plant ages quality declines as fiber levels increase and protein levels decline
- Biomass will increase until after anthesis (until grain fill is less than leaf loss)
Barley types: High moisture barley
- Grain harvested at high moisture (27% optimum), after kernel filling is complete but prior to dry-down to normal combine moisture (15%)
- By exclusion of air from the storage pit or bin, grain is protected from decomposition by micro-organisms and oxidation
- Used as a feed
High moisture barley: Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages?
- Earlier harvest
- Reduced dust
- Increased palatability
Disadvantages?
- Storage containers must be air-tight
- Cost of transporting
Barley types: Malting Barley
Varieties:
- Recommended List for Malting Varieties
- Malting and brewing industry have developed a list that indicates market development and acceptance of malting barley varieties
Production:
- Soil fertilizer recommendations so proteins are not too high but enzymes levels are adequate
- Must be free from disease, sprouting, staining
What is Malting Barley?
Grain that is partially germinated
- Partial germination allows access to the seed’s resources for brewing
- Source of sugars fermented into beer
- Yeast in the beer feeds on this sugar
The Malting process
- Steeping
- Increase moisture content to begin germination - Germination
- Sugars are produced - Kilning
- Stop germination and create desired colour & flavour
Barley types: 5 Hull-less Barley
What is it?
- Lemma and palea (hull) do not adhere to the kernel and are moved during threshing
- Grain that can be used for animal feed or human food
Alberta Barley
~ 6 Million Tonnes/Year
- 50% of Canadian Barley
- Canada – 4th Largest Barley Producer
Barley Adaptation Alberta
Sensitive and responsive to the environment
Wide genetic variation
“The most productive and adaptive varieties in a region are those bred in that region”
Barley Days to maturity in Alberta
- The number of days from seeding to harvest
- Variety, location, season, and date of seeding
- Lower in the southern part of the province
- Reduced by late seeding
- Lower yield from the late sowing
Importance of cropping history
- History of repetitive soil erosion by wind or water
- Serious weed or volunteer grain problems
- Harbored disease organisms, toxins and insects
- Residue from a previous canola crop
Land topography and soil texture for barley in Alberta
- Any topography
- Medium textured soils (loams, clay-loams and silty-clay)
- No yield difference between soil zones (dark brown, thin black, black, grey-wooded)
Soil moisture situation in Alberta
- In Alberta, most barley is grown on dryland.
- About 90 % on stubble land
- Knowledge of the amount of available moisture
- 250-300 mm (10-12 in.) of water to produce a satisfactory crop on dryland
- 390 mm (15.4 in.) of water for feed and 430 mm for malt on irrigated land
Frost-free period in Alberta
Ranges from 90 to 130 days. Little or no difficulty in maturing the recommended varieties
Selecting Barley varieties in Alberta
Maturity, Lodging, and Disease resistance.
- Feed varieties are NOT higher in protein
- Protein and growing conditions
- Drought, lodging, disease, and nitrogen fertilizer
- Optimum growing conditions, maximum yield of plump kernels, high proportion of carbohydrates, and a protein content of 10 to 12 per cent
- Average protein content in Alberta barley is 12.4% dry basis (from 8% to over 18%)
- No particular variety is better for straw
For malting, the choice is limited to acceptable varieties - Preference is for two-row malt
- White aleurone six-row varieties, under contract only
- Standard varieties: AC Metcalfe, Copeland, Harrington and CDC Kendall
Barley Planting strategies in Alberta
- Tillage
- Conventional, reduced or zero tillage - Seedbed
- Firm - to ensure uniform depth of seeding - Seeding rate
- 180 to 260 viable seeds m2
- Seeding rate/unit area kernel weight = weight/unit area - Seeding depth
- Up to 5 cm deep
- Shallow for semi-dwarf varieties (2.5 cm) - Time of seeding
- Earlier the better, especially as you move northward
- At Lacombe, May 20 is the optimum - Seed source
- Pedigree seed ensures quality traits
- Should be weed/disease free - Seed treatment
- General surface seed treatment especially important for smuts - Variety (cultivar)
- Selection should be based on marketing decision: malt/hulless/feed
- Check current varieties pamphlet on seed.ab.ca - Fertilizer
- Base on marketing decision: malt needs low protein so do not apply too much N; acceptance/premium protein as feed
- Apply Phosphorous with the seed
- K not generally needed
- Copper needed on some soils
Do the type and amount of fertilizer depend on the intended end use of the barley?
Plant and grain yield, grain quality. Intended end use for the barley.
- Low soil moisture and nitrogen
- Phosphorus and the adverse effects of non optimal soil temperatures and root rot
- Excessive nitrogen supply and grain protein
- Sulphur
- Proper balance
- Potassium for straw strength
- Adequate phosphorus close to the germinating seed
- 3-6 days earlier maturity in soils with proper levels of all nutrients, especially phosphorus
Fertilizing for barley silage and high moisture grain
- Silage, the maximum amount of plant material
- High moisture grain, short straw and high grain yield
- Phosphorus, as well as heavy applications of nitrogen fertilizer
Fertilizing for dry-feed and malt
Quality feed (well supplied and balanced soils)
Malt
- Phosphates and other needed nutrients
- Nitrogen
Harvest Strategies for barley in Alberta
Silage:
- Soft-dough stage (approx. 60 - 70 % moisture, 30 - 40% dry matter)
- Quality is better early (higher protein, lower fibre)
- Yield is better late (as grain begins to fill)
Swathing:
- After physiological maturity (approx. 35 - 40%, moisture, 60 - 65% dry matter)
- Dries faster standing
- Causes late tillers to dry down, less chance of lodging
Harvesting:
- Combined from swath or directly
Take care to prevent cracking for malt or seed quality
- For high moisture grain direct combine at 25 - 30% moisture
Post-harvest storage:
Dry to < 15% moisture, store at < 50 ºC
- to prevent heating, embryo damage, loss of germination
Barley development
- Member of the grass family. Development of buds near the base of the main stem. Two separate root systems, primary and secondary roots.
- Stage 1, about 6 to 12 days
- Stages 2-5, an additional 5 or 6 weeks
- Growing point below the soil until tillering is almost complete
- Stages 6 to 10, late June or early July
- Flowering in the boot
- Grain filling and maturity in August
- Mature in 80 to 120 days (90 to 95 days in the south, and about 100 to 105 days in central and northern areas)
- Yield components:
number of heads per unit area; number of seeds per head; seed weight - Thin or thick seeding?
- Environmental stresses
- Effects of stress during the flowering stage
Barley damage by hail
- Hail before the end of the tillering stage
- Hail damage after the stem extension or shooting stage
- Hail after heading
- Seeding early
- Early-maturing varieties such as Conlon, CDC Helgason, Manny or Niobe
- Late April and early May seeding, freezing temperatures
- Intensity and duration of the freezing period
- Reseeding
- Frost in the fall when the crop is filling or maturing
When crop has filled but has not yet dried
Barley Breeding
- Barley is self-pollinated
- To create genetic diversity, crosses are made manually
- -a time consuming process
- -allows selection for desired traits
Objectives
- yield
- quality (malt, hulless)
- resistance: disease, lodging, drought, cold
