Lacey Most Popular Variety on Increasing Barley Acres

By CnAgri2012-07-17 19:38:34 Print

Barley planted acres increased 64 percent from 2011's record low planted acreage. For the fifth year in a row, Lacey commands the majority of barley acres. Lacey accounts for 55 percent of the acres planted, with 63,500 acres. Robust ranks second with 20,700 acres, or 18 percent of the total. Tradition is third most planted with 10,600 acres, followed by Legacy with 3,700 acres. Quest, a new variety introduced in 2010, accounts for more than 1 percent of barley planted for the first time, with 3,500 acres. Royal, Conlon, Rasmusson, and Drummond round out the list of varieties that have 1 percent or more of planted acres with 3,200 acres, 2,700 acres, 2,000 acres, and 1,200 acres, respectively. Excel, Haybet, and Stellar-ND each account for less than one percent of the total barley planted this year.

The majority of the barley planted, 69 percent, is in Minnesota's Northwest District (10), with 79,400 acres. The Central District (50) followed with 12,700 acres, the West Central (40) with 7,800 acres, and the Southeast (90) with 6,400 acres. The remaining five districts categorized in "Other" (99) have 7.6 percent, or 8,700 acres of the state's estimated 115,000 total acres.

Lacey is a six-row malting variety characterized by high yield, medium maturity, good lodging resistance, and medium kernel plumpness. The majority of the Lacey acreage is planted in the Northwest District with 52,600 acres, followed by the West Central District with 5,000 acres, and the Central District with 2,800 acres. The remaining districts are estimated at a total of 2,800 acres.

Robust, the second most planted barley variety in the state, is a six-row malting variety and is characterized by good kernel plumpness, medium yield and maturity, and medium lodging resistance. Robust is planted across the state with 9,900 acres in the Northwest District, 4,500 acres in the Central District, 3,100 acres in the Southeast District, and 1,200 acres in the West Central District. There is an estimated 2,000 acres of Robust planted in Other Districts.

Tradition acres increased this year as it became the third most planted variety in the state with 10,600 acres, or 9 percent of total acres planted. Tradition is characterized as a six-row malting variety with high yield, medium maturity, good lodging resistance, and good kernel plumpness. The highest number of Tradition acres came in the Northwest District, with 9,400 acres. The remaining acres are spread throughout the Central, Southeast, and Other Districts.

Quest is a new variety with improved resistance to Fusarium head blight and 40 percent lower deoxynivalenol (DON). The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station released Quest in 2010. It is characterized as a six-row malting variety with high yield, medium maturity, and moderate lodging resistance. Quest accounts for 3,500 acres, or 3 percent of total barley acres.

Legacy, Royal, Conlon, Rasmusson, and Drummond, all malting varieties with the exception of the forage crop variety Royal, each account for less than five percent of Minnesota's planted barley acreage. Legacy has 3,700 acres, or 3 percent of the state's total with the heavier planting seen in Other Districts. Royal has 3,200 acres, or 3 percent of the state's total, with planting concentrated in the Central and Southeast Districts. Conlon acres were most seen in the Northwest and Central Districts with 2,700 acres, or 2 percent of the state's total. Rasmusson has 2,000 acres, 2 percent of the total, and is scattered throughout all districts. Drummond had 1,200 acres, 1 percent of the barley total, with the majority in the Northwest District.

The remaining 3,900 acres of the state's barley acreage is a combination of other varieties including: Celebration, Excel, Hazen, Larker, MNBrite, Morex, Stander, Stark, Stellar-ND, and mixed varieties. The American Malting Barley Association, Inc. (AMBA) recommends the following six-row malting barley varieties for 2012: Celebration, Lacey, Legacy, Quest, Robust, Stellar-ND, and Tradition. The two-row malting barley varieties recommended by the AMBA for 2012 include: AC Metcalfe, CDC Copeland, Charles, Conlon, Conrad, Harrington, Hockett, Merit, Merit 57, Moravian 37, Moravian 69, Pinnacle, and Scarlett.