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Ontario District - MBAC 51st Annual Barley Field Day, July 10, 2003 |
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Speakers for the 51st Annual Barley Field Day found themselves addressing a full house with standing room only at the back. The weather at the Elora Research Station broke with the tradition, being cloudy with a threat of rain instead of the usual hot and cloudless days that we have had for the past few years. Prof D.E. Faulk, University of Guelph, who had organised an excellent technical program, made the opening remarks. Doug Smallfield, then introduced Marc de Wit, and presented him with the MBAC 50th Anniversary Cereals Award for the work that Marc is doing on the incorporation of low phytate into hulless barley. Marc will be giving a paper on his work at the One-Day Technical Conference on Jan 23, 2004. Darren Smith of ConAgra Malt gave the opening presentation on 2002 Remaining Barley Quality and 2003 Crop Outlook. Problems with the remaining 2002 crop are:
Current rejection rates are shown in the table below.
Darren then displayed detailed charts and data on germination rates and went on to describe the crop management strategies that ConAgra are applying. Reduced demand for feed barley is becoming a factor in the supply picture. The 2003 crop is shaping up to be fair to good, with a current forecast of 13 million metric tons. Manitoba and Sask were a bit late in seeding and some areas are experiencing lack of moisture while grasshoppers are a problem in others. Alberta is low on moisture but areas around Calgary have had rain in the past few days. Long range forecast is for near normal weather, with harvesting in the Aug 20 to Sept 1 period. Erin Armstrong from BMBRI, gave a malting barley variety development update. The BMBRI is supported by the four principal malt houses and the four principal breweries in Canada and by Anheuser-Busch. The current Variety Registration Process is designed around the following parameters:
Some proposed changes to the registration protocol are now on hold. In process are:
There are a total of 25 trial sites for 2 row and 24 for 6 row located as follows:
Manitoba - Hamiota (was Brandon but relocated due to disease problem) No varieties were recommended for registration at the 2003 PRRCG meeting but up and coming varieties are 2 row CDC Copeland and 6 row CDC Battleford. Seeded acres for 2003 are 11,225,000 compared with 11,835,000 in 2002. Erin explained that the drop in acreage this year is due to many factors including excellent Canola prices and poor barley seed supply. Dr Faulk, who is now focussing most of his efforts on wheat development gave a presentation on how methodology developed in the barley breeding program could be used as a basis for the wheat program. However he did point out that wheat development is significantly more complex than barley. The new emphasis on wheat is driven by economics, the wheat crop being 5 times the value of barley. He explained that his keys to breeding success are:
The group then toured the test fields where Dr Faulk drew attention to the seriousness of the powdery mildew, the weather this year having provided ideal conditions for it. Marc de Wit then briefly described the direction that he is taking in his research for the reduction of phytate in barley. Apparently, phytate reduces the nutrient value of feed barley, hence development of a low phytate strain would enhance the value of the barley. The onset of rain forced the group back to the tent where an excellent lunch was served. Many thanks to ConAgra for again sponsoring the barley field day which judging by the attendance is a very popular event. Thanks also to Dr. Faulk and his people for hosting the group and for organising an informative and interesting technical session. |
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