UAF researchers aim for quality, quantity in small grains project

Tuesday, Aug. 6, was harvest day for the small grains trials project on the Fairbanks Experiment Farm at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Charles Ashlock drove the combine harvester, while Nathan Simms, the project assistant, and Inga Peterson, a member of the farm crew, kept things running smoothly by changing out the seed collection bags and removing residual straw between plots.

The combine harvester collected seeds from almost 80 varieties of barley, wheat and canola grown to find which varieties thrive in Fairbanks' short summer. Seeds are collected in bags labeled with their variety name, such as Ingal, a hard red spring wheat variety that could be used for bread flour.

The goal is to find a malting barley variety for local brewers, a spring wheat variety for a local source of flour and a canola variety that can be used as a rotational crop to improve soil quality and as an oilseed crop.

While feed barley is successfully grown in Alaska, it is less valuable than barley grown for human consumption. Mingchu Zhang, the UAF agronomist and lead researcher of the project, hopes to provide a malting barley cultivar that can be sold to brewers around the state.

Locally grown malting barley would decrease prices for brewers who currently import their malting barley and provide a market for the farmers. Malt extract used to make beer can be from wheat, rye or other grains, but typically it comes from barley. The malt contributes to the color, flavor and foam properties of beer. It also, importantly, provides the sugars necessary for fermentation.

Large kernels are preferred in malting barley varieties, partially because they often yield more malt extract. Zhang grows both two-row and six-row barley, the rows referring to the number of kernels per node on a spike of barley. Two-row barley generally has larger kernels - good for beer - while six-row barley typically has higher protein and nitrogen content - good for animal feed.

When searching for a suitable barley variety for Alaska growers, there are many properties to consider. Zhang and his team are looking for plants that mature early, don't shatter (grains falling to the ground before harvest), have high yields and stand upright for harvest. Brewers also prefer barley varieties with less than 2 percent nitrogen content. Finally, the team looks for uniform seed size and tillers that all mature at the same time.

Barley tillers are like suckers on a willow. They are independent stems that come up from the roots and can increase yield because they produce their own spike of kernels. However, tillers that come up later in the season can use up valuable nutrients and still have green kernels at harvesting time. Green kernels tend to have higher protein and moisture content, increasing the risk of quality issues and spoilage.

After harvest, researchers will dry the seed and clean the debris out to evaluate the quality of the barley varieties grown at the farm. They will measure bushel weight and per-acre weight, then grind them up and send them to a lab for protein analysis and nitrogen content. Finally, the barley will need a malting test in a commercial lab.

Only the varieties that look promising in the field make it to the labs. Next year, they will be grown again to evaluate how differences in weather and other environmental changes affect a crop's performance.

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