A NEW barley variety which is a good fit for medium to low rainfall areas with lighter soil types has been officially launched by InterGrain, with trial data from the breeder over the past three years and National Variety Trials in 2020 indicating that it yields similar to Compass.
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Commodus CL - named after a Roman gladiator and meaning suitable, convenient or opportune - is the latest imidazolinone (IMI) tolerant barley from InterGrain and is set to only be received as a feed barley while its potential suitability for malting is evaluated over the next few years.
InterGrain barley breeder David Moody said Commodus CL was an exceptional variety to be adding to the company's suite of IMI barleys as it provided growers with another high-yielding option for use within the IMI barley rotation.
"Grower interest has been strong due to their interest in an IMI tolerant variety and as Commodus CL offers very similar performance to Compass, it is ideally suited to medium-low rainfall environments," Mr Moody said.
"It has a solid disease resistance package, including cereal cyst nematode (CCN) resistance and the same strong physical grain quality characteristics of Compass.
"It also has good early vigour which will assist early crop establishment and weed control, particularly on lighter soils."
Commodus CL has the Clearfield herbicide tolerance trait developed by Agriculture Victoria Services, which is currently exclusively licensed to InterGrain.
Presence of the trait confers Commodus CL's tolerance to registered label rates of Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) approved IMI herbicides, offering growers the ability to control brome and barley grass within the barley rotation.
The Clearfield trait provides increased rotational flexibility when other IMI tolerant crops have been grown the previous year and where there are residue concerns.
While Commodus CL is a great option for use within the IMI barley rotation, it also offers an alternative plant type to Spartacus CL and Maximus CL.
"With Maximus, we should learn within the next couple of weeks that it is malt accredited, whereas Commodus will go out as a feed variety pending two or three years of evaluation to determine it's malting status," Mr Moody said.
"Commodus is more for lower rainfall zones and sandy soils, whereas the Maximus and Spartacus plant types don't perform as well there and tend to do better on heavier loams.
"We often get comments from growers north of the Great Eastern Highway, more in the eastern Wheatbelt, that they would prefer something taller and more vigorous, so if I had to pigeon hole an area for Commodus, it would be there."
With varietal interest high, InterGrain is continuing to assess the line's malting characteristics for potential submission to Barley Australia's Malt and Brewing Accreditation program.
Mr Moody said demand for the new variety had significantly exceeded seed supplies in its first season.
"Growers have been after this weed competitive, IMI barley ever since we released Spartacus - they have wanted and demanded it for the last four years so it doesn't surprise me at all that the seed has sold out," he said.
"Most of the available seed will be with our Seed Shed partners who will be doing significant seed bulk-ups this year.
"I understand there is a very limited amount available for grower release and it is best to get in contact with an InterGrain territory manager to find out."
While Commodus CL offers an overall effective agronomic package, the variety is considered to have a medium head loss risk and equivalent lodging tolerance to Compass.
With that in mind, harvest management strategies should be considered in higher yielding seasons or when harvest delays may occur to maximise varietal productivity.
"There are growers that either love or hate the compass type - if you're a grower that hates it, don't buy Commodus, but if you really like it, then Commodus is for you," Mr Moody said.
"If someone has never grown Compass, the key thing to watch for is that under good conditions it can get quite tall and lodge, plus it can also be quite susceptible to leaf rust.
"For growers where those two things are a big issue, then I would stay away from Comodus and go down the Maximus path instead."
Commodus CL, formerly known by its breeding code IGB1908, was bred and developed collaboratively by InterGrain and Grains Innovations Australia (GIA), which have formed a strategic barley breeding partnership to enhance the delivery of market leading varieties to maximise grower value.
