The art of breeding Canadian barley: past,

present and future

A. Badea, W.G. Legge, B. Harvey, B. Rossnagel, A. Beattie, D. Falk, A. Navabi,

J. Helm, F. Capettini, P. Juskiw, J. Nyachiro, T.M. Choo, and R. Khanal

Winnipeg, June 25-28, 2017

University of Guelph Barley Breeding Program

• Focus has been on 6-row feed barley

– higher yield

– better lodging resistance with high straw yield

– larger grain and higher test weight

– better disease resistance in humid environment • powdery mildew

• leaf rust

• net blotch

• BYDV

• FHB

Diversity of germplasm incorporated into

breeding program and resulting 6-row

and 2-row lines from such crosses.

University of Guelph Barley Breeding Program

• Breeding Methods – 1880-1910: pure line selection from landraces

– 1910-1960’s: hybridization and selfing to develop pure lines (Huntley, Reinbergs)

– 1960’s-1990’s: shuttle breeding to Mexico and California and Bulbosum-based Doubled Haploids (Reinbergs, Kasha)

– 1990’s-2010’s: shuttle breeding to California combined with male sterility for accelerated recurrent selection (RIPE) (Falk)

– 2014-present: traditional crossing and single seed descent (Navabi)

Diversity of F4 yield plots in Ontario

Harvested F3 single plants in

California which will give enough seed

for F4 yield trials back in Ontario

Results of RIPE in University of Guelph Barley Breeding Program

• Significant improvement in all selected parameters

• More than 50 varieties supported for Registration

by the Ontario Cereal Crops Committee

• 70% (25/36) of top 3 lines in Performance Trials

across Ontario 2001-2012

• 83% (15/18) of lines with index of >110% in

Performance Trials across Ontario 2001-2012

• Majority of Ontario barley acres sown to Guelph

varieties

• Incorporation of H. spontaneum into elite parental

lines/crosses

Dr. Duane Falk

• Focus has evolved toward 2-row malting barley

• Most basic goals similar, with addition of malting

attributes

• Increase testing of diverse barley genotypes (Navabi)

• Introduction of new barley germplasm (Navabi)

• Development of large mutant population to target trait

development (Lukens)

• Development of TILLING population for studies of

important traits in barley (Lukens)

Dr. Ali Navabi

Dr. Lewis Lukens

University of Guelph Barley Breeding Program: Present

FCDC Barley Breeding Program: Brief History

Poster courtesy of Erin Collier, FCDC Lacombe

FCDC Barley Breeding Program: Breeding Objectives and Methodology

• Modified bulk breeding method

– Pressure put on bulks to move them in

desired direction

– Selections made in F5-F7

– Headrows to yield trials

• Use of California winter nursery

• Molecular Marker Assisted Selection

• Double Haploid Production

• Mutagenesis and selection

General view of the California winter nursery (A) and head selections in California (B)

Improved barley variety

Improved lodging

resistance

Improved quality

Higher yield

Earliness Disease

resistance

Increased in barley program size to ~200 crosses per year

Organized in pre-breeding and variety development programs

Expedited the breeding cycle, from 12-16 to 8-9 years

Extensive use of winter nurseries

Maximized the use of controlled environments

Single seed descent

Decreased the 6-row and hulless programs

Increased the 2-row malting, feed, forage

Focused the food program

Increased marker assisted selection

Genomic selection

FCDC Barley Breeding Program: Present

FCDC Barley Breeding Program: Varieties Developed

Variety Year Characteristics

Empress 1982 6-row feed

Abee 1982 2-row feed

Condor 1988 2-row hulless

Falcon 1992 6-row hulless semi-dwarf

Bentley 2010 2-row malt

Amisk 2015 6-row feed

Canmore 2016 2-row food/forage

Lowe 2016 2-row malt

FCDC Staff: Present

Manley Champlin (1920-24) & James Harrington (1924-47) Pure line selections (‘Hannchen’ - 1923), introductions (‘Trebi’ - 1929) and hybridization (‘Rex’ – 1937)

6-row feed type focused on yield, earliness and test weight

Len Shebeski (1947-53) & Ed Larter (1954-66) Hybridization (‘Husky’ – 1953; ‘Jubilee’ – 1960) and mutation breeding

6-row feed type focused on yield, earliness and disease resistance (stem rust and smuts)

U of S/CDC Barley Breeding Program: Early Years

Bryan Harvey (1966-2005) Hybridization, off-season nursery

2-row malt type (‘Harrington’ – 1981; ‘Manley’ – 1990; ‘Stein’ – 1992; ‘CDC Kendall’ – 1999; ‘CDC Copeland’ – 1999)

focused on yield, earliness, straw strength, test weight and plumpness, disease resistance (stem rust, smuts, net blotch, spot blotch, FHB, scald) and malt quality (both high and low enzyme types)

6-row malt type (‘CDC Clyde’ – 2004; ‘CDC Mayfair’ – 2008)

John Berdahl (1972-77) 6R feed type focused on yield, earliness and disease resistance

U of S/CDC Barley Breeding Program

U of S/CDC Barley Breeding Program

Brian Rossnagel (1977-2011) Hybridizations, doubled haploidy, SSD, off-season nursery, molecular markers

2-row feed and forage types (‘Deuce’ – 1986; ‘Dolly’ – 1994; ‘CDC Cowboy’ – 2004; ‘CDC Austenson’ – 2012)

focused on yield, straw strength, test weight, disease resistance (stem rust, smuts, net blotch, spot blotch, FHB, scald), forage quality

Hulless feed (‘Scout’ – 1982; ‘CDC McGwire’ – 1999), food (‘CDC Candle’ – 1994; ‘CDC Fibar’ and ‘CDC Rattan’ – 2003) and malting (‘CDC Clear’ – 2012) types

focused on yield, straw strength, hull adherence, disease resistance, food quality (high BG or amylose) or malt quality (high extract)

2-row malt types (‘CDC Meredith’ – 2008; ‘CDC PolarStar’ – 2008; ‘CDC Kindersley’ – 2010)

U of S/CDC Barley Breeding Program: Current and Future

Aaron Beattie (2010-) Hybridizations, doubled haploidy, SSD, off-season nursery, molecular markers, genomic selection

2-row malt types (‘CDC Bow’ – 2015; ‘CDC Fraser’ – 2016; ‘CDC Goldstar’ – 2017)

additional malt quality target associated with craft brewing

2-row feed and forage types same traits as previous

Hulless food (‘CDC Ascent’ – 2016) and malting types

additional black aleurone food type

ORDC Barley Breeding Program

Dr. Alek Choo Dr. Raja Khanal

Island

AAC Azimuth

AAC Starbuck

AC Minoa

BRDC Barley Breeding Programs: Early Years

Walter Johnston

(1936-71)

Dick Metcalfe

(1948-65 in Brandon

1966-88 in Winnipeg)

• Prior to 1924: - only

demonstration work on barley

• S. J Sigfusson (1924-33) –

mandate was to develop

barley varieties suited to

western Canada

• A.J. (Al) Klassen (1966-68)

• R.I. (Bob) Wolfe (1968-81) –

barley genetics and disease

resistance with focus on feed

barley

• K.W. (Ken) Campbell (1974-

81) – malting barley; focused

on crosses between 2-row

and 6-row and DH production

Examples of cultivars released: Plush,

Parkland, Conquest, Bonanza, Bedford

BRDC Barley Breeding Programs: Present

The six-row and hulless barley breeding program

The two-row malting barley breeding program

70%

20%

10%

Two-row malting

Two-row feed

Two-row hulless malting

40%

40%

20%

Six-row malting

Two-row hulless food

Six-row forage

(1982-2011) (2012-)

(1987-2017) (2017-)

BRDC Barley Breeding Programs General Breeding

Objectives: Present

New cultivar/elite germplasm

Grain yield

Consistency across

growing conditions

Straw strength

Plant height

Kernel colour

Shattering tolerance

Disease resistance

Maturity

o Fusarium head blight nursery

o Leaf diseases and stem rust nursery

o Screening for waterlogging (wlt)

Stem rust Spot blotch Fusarium Head blight

BRDC Barley Breeding Programs: Present Research and

Screening for Biotic and Abiotic Stresses

General view of BRDC testing

field: during wlt treatment

BRDC Barley crew collecting leaf

tissue after wlt treatment

UAV data collection in

the wlt experiment

FHB Project: Present

Brandon FHB nursery

8,700-row capacity

initial screening&future evaluation

Morden, MB (new in 2014) – 1000-row capacity

Ottawa, ON – 500-row capacity

Charlottetown, PEI – 500-row capacity

FHB Nurseries:

Collaborators:

James Tucker (2001-)

Summary of Barley in Canada

Today, barley is grown

from coast to coast with

over 90% farmed in

western Canada.

The beer economy

supports 1 in every 100

jobs in Canada and

generates over $5.8

billion in tax revenues

each year.

Canada is one of the

world’s leading malt

barley exporters.

Next Generation Breeding

Genetic Resources

Phenotyping Enabling

technologies

The Path to New Achievements in Canadian Barley

A single approach will not provide all the solutions

Progress will be made by combining the scientific and

breeding expertise

The path forward will require us to combine the best

approaches to maximize the chance of success in this

important and exciting endeavour