| | Abstract | Western Australian malting barley industry | Barley industry priorities | Achieving industry priorities | Industry development | Acknowledgements
Abstract
The Western Australian (WA) malting barley industry is an important participant in the international malting barley trade offering around one sixth of the worlds traded malting barley. The peak industry body for the WA barley industry is the Western Malting Barley Council, which encourages close collaboration between its members and industry. An important priority of the industry is the development and commercialisation of high yielding, well adapted malting barley varieties that are competitive in the export markets and are highly suitable for domestic markets. This paper reviews the current status of the WA malting barley industry, the research priorities for the industry and the research programs that have been initiated to improve the quality of barley varieties grown in WA to ensure continuing international success.
Western Australian Malting Barley Industry
Barley is an important grain industry in Western Australia (WA), second only to wheat. Barley production in WA has doubled over the past 13 years and the industry has established a consistent production base of between 1.0 to 1.5 million tonnes per annum. The industry however has the potential to sustain a higher production level should the economic incentive occur and higher yielding varieties be developed.
The barley industry is based on a dryland agricultural system. Barley varieties are 2-row spring types and are sown in rotation with wheat, canola, pulse crops and annual pastures. Barley crops are usually sown in May to June and harvested between October to December. The majority of the barley grown comes from the southern higher rainfall cereal belt where the mild climate favours high yields and plump grain. Production from the medium and low rainfall regions of the central and eastern cereal belt represents over 25 per cent of the state production.
Barley growers are strongly focused on delivering grain for sale to the malting and brewing industries, with malting varieties accounting for 88 per cent of the acreage sown to barley in 2002. Of the total amount of barley produced, over 60 per cent is selected for use by the malting and brewing industry and the Shochu market in Japan.
The variety Stirling (Western Australia), released in 1981, continues to be the most widely sown variety in WA and represents over 50 per cent of the total barley area. The recently released variety Gairdner (Western Australia) is rapidly becoming a major malting barley variety and accounted for 25 per cent of the barley acreage sown during 2002. Both Stirling and Gairdner are exported as grain and malt to markets in Asia and South America. Small quantities of Stirling and Gairdner are also used in the domestic brewing market. Other malting barley varieties grown in WA include Schooner (South Australia), Unicorn (Japan) and Harrington (Canada). Schooner is exported as grain to Asian markets, whilst Unicorn and Harrington are exported as malt to Japan.
The international marketing of bulk barley from WA is conducted under a statutory authority and is marketed by CBH-Grain Pool. CBH-Grain Pool is a supply chain company with ownership of the majority of the grain storage and handling facilities in WA. The Grain Pool Pty Ltd works in the international barley market in a strategic alliance with ABB Grain Ltd called Grain Australia. Grain Australia has a strong representation in all of the key barley markets worldwide and is one of only a few truly global malting barley providers. It supplies up to 40 per cent of the world’s traded malting barley and around 10 per cent of feed barley.
Part of the success of the WA malting barley industry can be attributed to the strategic development and industry co-operation between all components of the barley supply chain. The Western Malting Barley Council is the peak industry body with the responsibility to provide accreditation of malting barley varieties in WA and to foster industry co-operation. The strategic development of the industry is based on the clear and precise identification of market requirements by industry and their communication to research organisations.
Barley Industry Priorities
Demand for high quality malting barley is increasing both domestically and in important international markets. Recently released malting barley varieties from Canada and Europe have raised the bench-mark on the quality of grain available to international markets and rapid gains in the quality of Australian varieties are critical to ensure their on-going competitiveness in export markets. Two varieties recently released from the WA breeding program, Baudin and Hamelin, have quality attributes that are well suited to these markets.
The release of high yielding varieties with agronomic management packages are important for WA grain growers to ensure production of barley is competitive against the production of other annual crops including canola, wheat and pulse crops and against livestock operations.
Foliar diseases of barley are becoming more widespread and growers are requesting breeding, chemical and agronomic solutions to help combat the increasing incidence of scald, powdery mildew, spot-type and net-type net blotch, barley leaf rust and barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV). A greater focus on disease resistance has been incorporated into the breeding program.
Improved production in soils and environments that are hostile to barley production is required for continuing farm profitability. Grain growers are requesting new malting barley varieties with improved tolerance to abiotic stresses including acid soil/aluminium and boron toxicities, waterlogging, salinity and spring drought.
Maintaining post-harvest quality can be achieved with improvements in soft handling, aeration and insect control during storage and implementing QA systems across all barley growing regions. CBH are seeking to develop cheap and objective tests of germination, staining and skinning within the handling system and to identify least damage pathways that can reduce the frequency of handling between the producer and export markets.
Achieving Industry Priorities
The Department of Agriculture - Western Australia's Western Region Barley Improvement and Industry Development Program (WRBIIDP) is the main supplier of barley research and development in WA. Funding is provided by the Department of Agriculture, the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the Western Malting Barley Council. The Department's objective is to continuously improve the sustainable production and marketing performance of the industry so as to ensure its long-term viability.
As with all free trade, there is a need to continue to adapt quality characterisitics to meet changing market expectations. The WRBIINP undertakes research to develop barley varieties with increased yield, agronomic performance, disease resistance, resistance and/or tolerance to abiotic stress and with malting and feed quality that is desired by the market. The WRBIINP provides the barley industry with new improved cultivars and the knowledge and products to maintain maximum production within the constraints of changing market needs and variable climate and soils of WA.
Barley breeding
The WRBIINP is one of six major barley breeding programs in Australia and places a strong emphasis on leadership and stewardship in the industry. The WRBIINP is the only barley breeding program based in WA.
The current priorities of the breeding program are to
- Develop and commercialise high yielding, well adapted malting and feed barley varieties that are competitive in the export markets
- Improve the reliability of malting barley by incorporating disease resistances, with the emphasis on spot-type and net-type net blotches, scald, powdery mildew, barley leaf rust and BYDV, and tolerances to abiotic stress, particularly drought, waterlogging, boron and aluminium toxicity
- Use doubled haploids, marker assisted selection, male sterile facilitated recurrent selection and single seed descent to improve the rate of genetic gain and to improve the efficiency of selection.
The Department of Agriculture has initiated the integration and implementation of biotechnology into the breeding program. The Department of Agriculture is a member of the Australian Winter Cereals Molecular Marker Program and Molecular Plant Breeding Co-operative Research Centre.
Molecular genetic validation and implementation
The Western Australian molecular marker program includes three components: gene discovery, validation of molecular markers and implementation through marker-assisted selection. The most important molecular genetic markers identified in the WA program are for; pre-harvest sprouting tolerance, kernel discolouration tolerance, net-type net blotch resistance and for basic vegetative period and photoperiod response. The molecular marker validation includes leaf rust and loose smut resistance genes and boron toxicity genes. The implementation of molecular markers is becoming an important component of the WA breeding program. The markers used in the WA program include; resistance to BYDV (Yd2), powdery mildew (mlo), leaf rust, net-type net botch and CCN, high thermostable beta-amylase (Bamy1 - Sd3 and Sd2H), basic vegetative period and photoperiod response and pre-harvest sprouting tolerance. Current research focuses on a high throughput marker system, whole genome selection and the development of ‘perfect’ markers based on barley-rice genome synteny.
Doubled haploid program
Doubled haploids (DH) are an important tool for the barley breeding program and it is estimated that three years are saved in cultivar development. The genetic value of material in the doubled haploid program is enhanced through the pre-selection of segregating donor parents with molecular markers. Additionally, the complete homozygosity of DH lines means that selection is more reliable and efficient compared with conventional inbred lines. Quantitative characters can be evaluated with the knowledge that all genes are fixed and desirable alleles will not be lost due to segregation in later generations. DHs are also useful in gene mapping and the development of molecular markers.
DH technology has been used in WA since 1993 with over 26,000 DH lines produced. DH lines now comprise over 25 per cent of the total breeding program and about 40 per cent of the Stage 2 or re-selected lines. Over 11,000 DH lines have also been provided to other breeders and researchers from WA, interstate and overseas for evaluation and genetic studies.
Germplasm introduction, evaluation and enhancement
Access to alternative or new sources of genes conferring either improvements in agronomic adaptation, resistance to abiotic stresses or plant diseases, improved grain quality traits or end product quality is essential for the continual development of the WA barley industry. The germplasm introduction, evaluation and enhancement project aims to introduce barley germplasm through the quarantine station at the University of Western Australia (UWA), evaluate the material for a number of traits, multiply the seed and combine desirable traits. Canadian co-operative material is exchanged through the quarantine station at UWA. This project also has responsibility for long term storage of doubled haploid crosses and all barley introductions.
Pathology support to barley breeding
Disease resistance is a major factor determining the success of new barley varieties grown in WA. In recent years research carried out in WA has quantified losses associated with barley leaf diseases. Yield improvements have ranged from 15 to 51 per cent when diseases such as powdery mildew, leaf rust or spot-type net blotch were controlled effectively. Substantial economic benefit can be derived by reducing disease.
Enhanced and stable production of high quality barley for export by reduced impact of leaf diseases through improved genetic resistance is the objective of the pathology support project. The core components of this project are to introduce new genetic sources and combinations of disease resistance as candidate donor parents, early screening of fixed lines for disease resistance and identification of molecular markers for different disease traits.
Barley quality evaluation
The Grain Products Laboratory has a well equipped Barley Quality Laboratory that forms an integral part of the barley improvement program. The objectives of the barley quality evaluation program is to provide the expertise in barley quality and to conduct a comprehensive quality testing program to ensure new barley varieties being developed meet the quality requirements of the market place.
The Barley Quality Laboratory is responsible for determining the quality of elite barley lines from the Department of Agriculture and interstate and international lines by conducting micro-malting of samples, small scale assessment tests and industry standard laboratory analytical procedures. The measured physical, chemical, biochemical and functional properties on both barley and malt samples are used to promote lines of improved quality whilst discarding inferior quality lines. Extensive use of NIR is made to screen the early generation germplasm populations.
Barley agronomy and physiology
The barley agronomy project provides growers and crop advisers with the necessary information required to tailor crop management information for each of the malting barley varieties to their environment. Barley agronomy research is focused on determining the most appropriate combinations of sowing date, soil type and plant density for each new variety. As WA soils are inherently low in organic carbon, fertiliser nitrogen experiments are important for understanding relationships between grain size, grain protein and malting quality. Agronomic production packages are then designed to maximise the probability of a producer being able to deliver barley within the malting receival specification.
While agronomy research is geared to providing short term solutions to problems facing the barley industry, physiology research aims to provide breeders with an understanding of the basic physiological processes responsible for any defects, and identify germplasm that may be useful in eliminating such defects. Two long-term industry issues are kernel discolouration and grain plumpness.
Industry development
Barley markets are seeking new varieties with improved quality. The successful adoption by growers of new barley varieties and the production of exportable quantities depends upon the development, extension and adoption by grain growers of robust management packages for growing each variety. Access to the latest barley variety, management and market information improves the selection and management of varieties allowing growers to make informed decisions to maximise their returns from growing barley.
New malting barley varieties
The WA Department of Agriculture has recently released two new malting varieties, Baudin and Hamelin, that show superior malting quality with suitability for solid adjunct brewing. Baudin is a 2-row spring barley with medium maturity, suited to the higher rainfall, longer growing season regions of the Australian cereal belt. Baudin is an improvement in malting quality over current WA varieties with high malt extract, diastase and alpha amylase activity. It has low wort beta-glucan levels, is easily modified to yield friable malt with a high Kolbach Index and fermentable wort.
Hamelin is a 2-row spring barley with early to medium maturity. Hamelin has a short dormancy period and is an improvement in malting quality when compared to the variety Stirling. It has higher malt extract, diastase and alpha amylase activity, and has lower wort beta glucan levels. Hamelin is easily modified to yield a friable malt with a high Kolbach Index and fermentable wort. Harrington is one of the parents of Hamelin.
Acknowledgements
Department of Agriculture, Grains Research and Development Corporation and Western Malting Barley Council support research conducted by the Western Region Barley Improvement and Industry Development Program. Editorial comment on this paper has been provided by Dr Andrew Crane.
R.J. Jettner, B.H. Paynter, C. Li, R.C.M Lance, A.W. Tarr, S. Broughton and R. Loughman
Department of Agriculture, Western Australia
Presented at the 3rd Canadian Barley Symposium, June 19-20, 2003 |
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