Breeding Better Barley for the Best Beef

Background

The foundation of the barley industry requires varieties to meet the needs of various sectors along the supply chain. In Canada, the majority of the barley grown is intended for malting. However, only 20% of what is grown meets malt grade which leaves the remaining 80% to be upcycled as livestock feed. In western Canada, this barley will typically be sourced by feedlots as the energy component in beef cattle finishing diets. With this supply chain structure in mind, there are many opportunities to improve barley production efficiency by breeding new varieties or enhancing existing traits like forage quality, malt quality, disease resistance, and yield, to see increases in economic returns across the barley value chain.

Objectives

• Improve and evaluate barley disease resistance
• Improve and evaluate barley forage quality 
• Develop a genetic selection model for yield

What they will do

Four locations across Canada (University of Saskatchewan, AAFC Lacombe, AAFC Brandon, Olds College) will be used to improve and develop barley varieties intended for multiple uses across Canada.

This team will improve disease resistance in barley varieties by incorporating foliar disease and Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance into two-row barley breeding lines. Forage quality enhancement will be addressed by simultaneously selecting for a reduction in fiber content and an increase in fiber digestibility in existing barley populations. Finally, a genetic selection model will be developed to predict yield that will have a primary focus on the stability of growth across a range of different environments and growing conditions.

Implications

While barley is a major feed component in the diets of western Canadian beef cattle, it also has broader applications beyond this. Collaboration between those breeding grain varieties and livestock is essential to ensure the whole barely value chain can remain productive and encourage increased efficiency for all stakeholders.