THE latest in barley research has been presented to growers, providing them with some helpful hints in regards to what varieties to sow and some agronomy tips ahead of the 2020 season.
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From 2012 to 2019, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and the Grains Research and Development Corporation co-invested in barley agronomy at 186 research trials across WA, with some of the key findings from these, as well as from National Variety Trials, presented at the Grains Research Update, Perth, last week.
DPIRD research officer Jeremy Curry said every year growers were deciding if there were new barley varieties worthy of growing over the ones they were already using.
"It's important to note that Spartacus CL is planted in over 40 per cent of the State's barley hectares and RGT Planet accounts for about 18pc, so these two varieties, which have received Malt accreditation in the past couple of years, now represent over half of our barley growing area," Mr Curry said.
"There isn't too much new which has come out which will change what farmers grow from 2019 to 2020, so the main malting varieties are going to remain Spartacus CL, RGT Planet and La Trobe, with a bit of Bass and Flinders.
"We're not expecting any varieties to get Malt accreditation, that would take any large proportion of the State, until at least 2021."
In terms of results from the National Variety Trials in WA, the highest yielding varieties were Rosalind, particularly where trials yield less than 3t/ha and RGT Plant where trial yield was more than 4.5t/ha.
Mr Curry said WA growers were good at adopting new barley varieties.
"Varieties like La Trobe, although it doesn't really have any significant agronomic benefits over a variety like Spartacus CL, it's still a handy variety to have in our industry because it is now well accepted as a malting variety, and also services the shochu markets in Japan," he said.
"Apart from yield, there are also still valid reasons to grow other varieties, something like Bass and Flinders, although they often don't yield as high as RGT Planet, their physical quality and malt strike rate is the reason they're still grown."
Mr Curry said the main thing for growers to think about was how to combine it with the genetics in order to maximise overall profit.
"One example is that what works or what's important at 2-3t/ha yield potential may not be sufficient as you reach higher yield potentials," he said.
"As you go to five tonnes, straw strength becomes more important and in some recent really high yielding research trials, we've seen that at 7-8t/ha, straw strength of the variety becomes really crucial in terms of the impact on yield and so do things like fungicide use."
