b'WESTERN DISEASE RATINGS PLANNED FOR EASTERN BARLEY VARIETIESNew trials aim to fill gaps in regional crop disease resistance informationBy Julienne Isaacs istration based on similar agronomic char- for FHB. The operating procedures for the acteristics,butwithdifferentproceduresOntario committee only seem to mention H ow many producers would select aand emphases. It does more intensive andFHB testing for wheat and not barley. not broaddiseaseresistanceevaluationsthanOther than for that, he says, the Ontario barley variety with missing diseasethe Ontario committee.datacollectedforcerealdiseasesis resistance information? TeamswithineachcommitteeareequivalenttothePRCOBdatapackages, Thats a question the seed industry hasresponsible for different areas of evaluation;and isnt suitable for Prairie provincial vari-had to face with the marketing of easternthe Prairie groups disease evaluation teamety guides.barley varieties to western Canadian pro- looksatvarietysusceptibilitytosurface- Insteadofthestandarddiseaserat-ducers. borne smuts, fusarium head blight (FHB),ings,suchasSusceptible(S),Moderately Once a variety has been supported fornet and spot forms of net blotch, scald, spotSusceptible(MS)orResistant(R),the registrationbyaregionalrecommendingblotch and stem rust.provincial variety guide tables might show committee,itreceivesregistrationacrossWhat happens when an eastern CanadianXX under the disease categories for which Canada. barleyvarietyismarketedinWesternthere is no equivalent data. But the recommending committees lookCanada?These varieties may not be seen as com-at different factors. In Ontario, the OntarioThedifferencesintherecommendingpetitiveversusvarietiesthathaveafull Cereal Crops Committee coordinates cerealcommitteesproceduresresultsinpoten- setofPRCOB-deriveddiseasedata,says performance testing. Barley variety evalu- tialgaps,saysKellyTurkington,aplantTurkington.ationsexamineagronomiccharacteristicspathologist for Agriculture and Agri-FoodThat information is crucial to growers such as yield, test weight and lodging, andCanada based in Lacombe, Alta. Turkingtonin terms of variety choice as part of their susceptibilitytodisease,mainlyfusariumhas been involved with the prairie recom- disease management programs, he says. head blight.mending committee since 1995. Not having that information is prob-Based on results, they make recommen- One large deficiency with [eastern] vari- lematic when trying to make variety deci-dations to the variety registration office ofeties is that they dont have disease ratingssionsbasedonactualon-farmdisease the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. that are consistent with the ratings devel- threats and/or trying to reduce fungicide The Prairie Recommending Committeeoped for barley varieties that go through theneedsbygrowingaresistantvariety.If for Oat and Barley (PRCOB) tests and eval- PRCOB [system], says Turkington.youre going to have them in the variety uatesoatandbarleycultivarsandmakesThe eastern coops do not test for mostguide, they need to have consistent infor-recommendations to CFIA for variety reg- ofPRCOBspriorityonediseases,exceptmationsoaproducerorconsultantcan look at those ratings and have confidence that something registered as an R or S in an eastern region will also be R or S in the western region.ANOTHER TRIALA solution is underway. At the 2022 PRCOB meeting, the group optedtodevelopanewcooptrialthat would evaluate eastern varieties being test-ed in western provincial variety trials using PRCOB disease evaluation team (DET) pro-cedures. ThetrialhasbeendubbedthePrairie Eastern Barley Disease Cooperative Trial.We felt that the path of least resistance was to start this smaller PRCOB DET-only co-op trial, says Turkington. PHOTO: CLUBFOTO/E+/GETTY IMAGES MoreBARLEY on page 1514SEED MANITOBA 2024SEEDMB.CA'