Canada: Crop management can make or break selection

Weather is still going to play an enormous role in your ability to grow designated barley, but one Alberta researcher says a handful of crop management techniques can make the difference come selection time, CWB announced in January .

Ross McKenzie, a research scientist with Alberta Agriculture Food and Rural Development in Lethbridge who works on malting barley, says nitrogen application rates, seeding dates and rates are three variables that can make the difference.

"Early seeding, lower seeding rates and balancing nitrogen rates with yield potential – these are the things that are within a farmer's control," McKenzie says. "They can't do much about the weather."

Malt barley producers should do their best to tie nitrogen applications to target yield. For the drier portions of the Prairies, that means knowing what your soil moisture is going into the spring and judging yield potential based on average rainfall, McKenzie says.

"Whether you have two, four or six inches of soil moisture going into the spring is going to substantially change your nitrogen rates, because it's going to have a real effect on your target yield," McKenzie says.

In recent years there's been a lot of talk of seeding barley at higher rates to maximize yield potential. That's fine for feed barley, but isn't likely the best strategy for a farmer hoping to go malting, McKenzie says.

"We found that a slightly lower seeding rate meant more plump kernels, which made selection more likely," says McKenzie.

Seed density of about 150 to 200 seeds per square metre – McKenzie says basing seeding on pounds per acre isn't sufficient because of the differences in seed plumpness and weight – is the most likely range for malt barley selection.

"You'll need to know your 1 000 kernel weight to get the correct seeding rate," McKenzie says.

Seeding barley crops as early as possible can also mean the difference between malt selection and selling into the feed market. "Generally the earlier you seed your crop the higher the yield and the lower the protein," says McKenzie. Earlier seeding can also mean more plump kernels, which is a major quality attribute for designated barley, says McKenzie.

Other management tools that McKenzie and his colleagues monitored in a recent study on barley yield and quality include response to application rates of the other macro-nutrients and variety selection. None showed a strong correlation to selection.

"The most obvious difference was the higher kernel plumpness in two-row varieties, but of course there are different selection standards for six-row barley," McKenzie says. "Within the classes there were only slight differences."

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