Developing Multiuse Naked Barley for Organic Farming Systems II
Project Director
Patrick Hayes
Year Funded
2020
Award Number
2020-51300-32179
Funded Institution
Oregon State University
Grant Program
OREI (Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative)
USDA NIFA Report (alternate)
Project Overview
Trials were conducted in the West (OR, CA) upper Midwest (MN, WI), and Northeast (NY) to develop improved naked barley cultivars for organic systems, using four classes of germplasm. Some 2,000 barley genotypes were tested in 70 certified organic field trials for priority traits identified by organic farmers, including yield, threshability (ease of separation from hulls), weed competitiveness, disease resistance, and winter hardiness. Promising lines were evaluated for multiple uses by millers, bakers, chefs, maltsters, and brewers. Field days and culinary events linked farmers, processors, marketers, and end users to build value chain networks and increase public awareness of organic multiuse naked barley.
Farmer Takeaways
(1) Naked (free-threshing or hull-less) barley is a promising crop for organic systems that can be used for cooking, baking, malting and brewing, roasted barley tea, or feed grain.
(2) The free-threshing trait is highly heritable and thus can be enhanced and stabilized through breeding.
(3) Resilience to diseases and other stresses, resistance to pre-harvest sprouting, and culinary traits also show good potential for improvement through plant breeding.
(4) The project’s holistic approach throughout the supply chain from farmer-participatory breeding to cultivar evaluation by bakers, brewers, and other end users is expanding the marketability and profitability of organic naked barley.
Project Outputs
Multi-Use Naked Barley for Organic Systems Homepage | eOrganic
Organic and Naked (Hull-less) Barley: Practices, Production Costs, and Benefits | eOrganic
Webinar: Progress on Organic Naked Barley Breeding, Exploration of Organic Breeding Traits | eOrganic
Webinar: Food Functionality of Naked Barley | eOrganic
Kunze, K.H., Meints, B., Massman, C., Gutiérrez, L., Hayes, P.M., Smith, K.P. and Sorrells, M.E. 2024. Genotype X environment interactions of organic winter naked barley for agronomic, disease, and grain quality traits. Crop Science, 64(2), pp.678-696.
Kunze, K.H., Meints, B., Massman, C., Gutiérrez, L., Hayes, P.M., Smith, K.P., Bergstrom, G.C. and Sorrells, M.E., 2024. Genome-wide association of an organic naked barley diversity panel identified quantitative trait loci for disease resistance. The Plant Genome, p.e20530.