The goal of the Barley for Rural Development Project is the development of new malt, feed and food barley varieties adapted to the West. Fusarium head blight (scab) continues to impact production of malting barley in the Dakotas and Minnesota, encouraging the western expanding malting industry to look to Montana, Idaho, and other western states for malting barley. Malting barley provides a great opportunity for growth in farm revenues in the Northwest states. The US malting industry is expanding its malting capacity in Idaho and Montana, and requires an additional 24 million bushels of malting barley per year. Since irrigation systems in the West are already fully-utilized, most of this added grain will be produced in the West's unpredictable rainfed environments. The primary objective of 'Barley for Rural Development' is the development and release of new barley varieties that produce high quality grain in these often stressful environments. Reducing farmer risk through deployment of more reliable and durable varieties is a cornerstone of this program. Opportunities abound for expanded barley utilization in the west for feed, food, and other specialty applications. Barley for Rural Development is bringing new varieties with added value to the farmers and consumers of the West.

View the world collection site map. Note: This is a VERY large .pdf file (ca. 6 MB).

Progress

Please note that links to photos and data will be active very soon!

April 2006    Barley Yield Trials were planted at Bozeman, Havre, Moccasin, Sidney, Huntley, Conrad and Creston
May 2006   
 The Barley World Core Collection (BWCC) was planted at the Post Farm in Bozeman, Montana, with approximately 3 grams of seeds from all 1917 lines (except Hordeum bulbosum and Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum lines).
July 2006   
 Three seeds from each accession of the BWCC were planted in a greenhouse at the MSU plant growth center. DNA was extracted by our team of undergraduate students using the Qiagen DNA extraction kit. Data from the extractions are here.
August 2006   
 USDA CAP trials and MSU yield trials from Montana harvested, Results are here The Barley World Core Collection (BWCC) harvested (see photos of lines). Forage DMD values here, Kernel hardness values here, starch percent values here, protein percent values here.
September 2006   
 The MSU Micromalting Facility is launched - photos and methods

Questions / Comments? Contact Tom Blake at blake@montana.edu