Evaluating barley for the emerging craft malting industry in western Washington

Evaluating barley for the emerging craft malting industry in western Washington

Brook Brouwer¹, Patrick Hayes², Paul  Schwarz³, John Barr³, Kevin Murphy⁴, Steve Lyon¹ and Stephen Jones¹¹ Dept. of Crop and Soil Science,
Washington State University, Mount Vernon, WA 98273; ²Dept. of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331; ³Dept.
Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58108; ⁴ Dept. of Crop and Soil Science, Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164, ⁵Dept. of Plant Sciences, UC Davis, Davis CA
95616

Abstract

The North American craft brewing industry has expanded rapidly in the past decade supporting the recent emergence of craft malting. Craft maltsters are creating demand for malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in minor production regions. Growing malting barley in these under-represented areas, such as western Washington requires identification of cultivars with suitable agronomic and quality characteristics. Twelve two-row spring barley cultivars where evaluated for two years at four western Washington locations to assess suitability for craft malt production in this region. Standard North American malting cultivars had lower agronomic performance and yield stability when compared to locally adapted feed cultivars (Table 1). Susceptibility to pre-harvest sprouting greatly reduced grain quality resulting in a high proportion of samples unsuitable for malt quality evaluation (Table 2). Cultivars with the highest levels of resistance to pre-harvest sprouting did not meet malt quality standards when malted according to standard micro-malting methods (Table 3). Craft maltsters may have the flexibility to produce malt from cultivars previously deemed unacceptable for malting (Table 4; Figure 1). This work suggests the need to adjust the malting process to work with locally adapted cultivars while expanding regional testing and breeding programs. 

Table 1. Means ± standard deviation (SD) across years and locations for grain yield, heading date, plant height, lodging, leaf rust and powdery mildew of cultivars grown in MVCON, MVORG, ISLAND, WHATCOM trials during the 2013 and 2014 growing season.

	Yield1 (kg ha-1)	Heading2 (Days from Jan 1)	Height3 (cm)	Lodging3 (%)	Leaf Rust4  (%)	Powdery Mildew4 (%)
Genotype	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean  ± SD	Mean  ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD
Richard	6407 ±1240	172 ± 14	66 ± 9	5 ± 15	16 ± 19	0 ± 0
2004NZ170	5528 ± 1384	173 ± 14	60 ± 9	12 ± 23	33 ± 19	12 ± 8
AC Metcalfe	4959 ± 1144	170 ± 14	81 ± 12	14 ± 26	53 ± 34	24 ± 23
Baronesse	5466 ± 945	170 ± 14	73 ± 12	16 ± 26	26 ± 18	22 ± 22
Bentley	4435 ± 1041	172 ± 15	81 ± 15	17 ± 30	47 ± 28	30 ± 27
Bob	5408 ± 1136	171 ± 14	75 ± 10	26 ± 33	21 ± 16	30 ± 24
CDC Copeland	4602 ± 1032	173 ± 14	86 ± 16	30 ± 37	66 ± 29	28 ± 24
CDC Meredith	4672 ± 1030	172 ± 15	75 ± 12	28 ± 37	47 ± 34	26 ± 20
Full Pint	4957 ± 1385	171 ± 15	61 ± 10	2 ± 6	2 ± 4	42 ± 22
Harrington	4516 ± 1052	171 ± 14	77 ± 12	29 ± 36	69 ± 33	4 ± 4
Hockett	4527 ± 920	169 ± 16	75 ± 12	28 ± 39	68 ± 30	32 ± 21
Newdale	4744 ± 1200	170 ± 15	75 ± 14	19 ± 35	43 ± 31	28 ± 28
Mean	5018	171	74	19	41	23
CV	12.4	0.5	7.6	118.1	29.1	26.7

¹ Mean of all locations in 2013 and 2014.

² Mean of MVCON and MVORG in 2013 and 2014.

³ Mean of MVCON, MVORG, and WHATCOM in 2013
and all locations in 2014.

⁴ Mean of MVCON and MVORG in 2013 and all
locations in 2014.