Registration of 'Valier' Barley

'Valier' barley (Hordeum vulgareL.) (PI 610264) was developed by the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station and released for commercial production in February, 1999. It is a selection from the cross 'Lewis/Baronesse'. The initial cross was made in Bozeman, MT in 1991. Seed was increased from 58 randomly isolated F₅ plants in 1994. These 58 lines were utilized in a series of linkage analysis and quantitative trait loci mapping experiments (Blake et al., 1998) which had the objectives of 1) determining locations of genes from 'Baronesse' were responsible for its agronomic superiority and 2) determining the location of genes which could possibly affect feedlot performance characteristics. 'Valier' was derived from line number 30 of this 58 member population. Headrow-derived F₉ plots were grown at Bozeman, MT in the spring of 1998. Twenty-eight of these were bulked together to form the variety 'Valier'.

'Valier is a two-rowed, white-kerneled, midseason spring barley. It has midlax, midlong spikes that are seminodding to erect before and after maturity, similar to 'Baronesse'. The spike has rough awns, glume awns are equal to the length of the hair-covered glume. Kernels have adhering, finely wrinkled hulls. Rachillas have long hairs. Unlike its parent 'Baronesse', 'Valier' retains sterile lateral florets. Baronesse is deficient for lateral florets. 'Valier', like Baronesse, flowers nearly two days later than its maternal parent, Lewis (table 1). 'Valier' frequently develops red-tipped awns, a distinctive and obvious character. 'Valier' is approximately two centimeters shorter than 'Lewis', with correspondingly greater lodging resistance.

In 19 location*years' trials, Valier outyielded all commonly grown varieties except Baronesse and Stark (table 2). 'Valier' also produced high test weight grain (table 3). Valier was developed specifically to combine excellent agronomic performance with improved cattle-feeding characteristics. In a 20 calf per treatment evaluation, 'Valier'-fed calves gained weight more rapidly than their half-siblings fed either 'Lewis' or 'Baronesse'(table 4) (Boss et al., 1999).

Foundation and Breeders seed of 'Valier' will be maintained by the Montana Foundation Seed Program. Varietal protection under Title V of the Plant Variety Protection Act is being sought. Foundation and Registered seed will be available to growers and seed dealers in the spring of 2000.

Table 1. Heading Date Comparison

1997-1998 T-PAIRED vs Valier - ALL LOCATIONS -

HEADING DATE (Days from Jan. 1)

Table 2. Yield Comparison

1997-1998 T-PAIRED vs Valier ALL LOCATIONS YIELD (bu/ac)

THE MEAN FOR THE REFERENCE VARIETY (Valier) IS: 97.8 (N= 19)

Table 3. Test Weight Comparison

1997-1998 T-PAIRED vs Valier ALL LOCATIONS TEST WEIGHT (lb/bu)

Table 4. Feedlot performance by beef steers fed Baronesse, Lewis

or Valier for 79 days

** ANOVA Significant at p<.01

Literature Cited

Boss DL, Bowman JGP, Surber LMM, Anderson DC, Blake TK. 1999. Feeding value of two Lewis x Baronesse Recombinant Inbred Lines, LB13 and LB30, for Finishing Steers. Proc. West Sect. Amer. Soc. An Sci. 50: 293-296.

Blake TK, Larson S, Eckhoff J, Kanazin V. 1998. Avoiding Project Bankruptcy While Effectively Employing Markers. in: ASA,HSSA Joint Symposium on Heterosis, Indianapolis, In. Ed: K. Lamkey, Crop Science Society of America, Madison, WI. Pgs 99-108.