Some notes about the behavior of malting barleys included in the European Brewery Convention Network

M. T. Barradas, F. Bagulho, B. Macas, and J. Coutinho
Cereal Department Estacao Nacional de Melhoramento de Plantas, 7351 Elvas, Portugal

Introduction

International cooperation is one of the most important practices to develop breeding and genetics of plants. Shuttle of germplasm between countries and multilocality trials are the most important components of this collaboration.

With this aim, the European Brewery Convention (EBC) network has distributed barley lines throughout Europe for many years.

This cooperation permitted accumulation of information from trials grown at 48 different sites during the period 1978-1988. Studies of genotype x environmental interactions gave us the possibility of understanding the behavior of germplasm from many European programs. EBC TRIALS AND THEIR IMPACT ON PORTUGUESE BREEDING Portugal has benefitted as a member since the beginning of the EBC network. Agronomic and quality studies provided an opportunity to select varieties with excellent adaptation to Portuguese agriculture. On the other hand, the network also permitted us to select new genetic material for the crossing program carried on at National Plant Breeding Station (Table 1). The most important varieties coming from EBC trials and distributed to farmers are: Beka, Union, Delisa, and Carina. The first two and Carina still are under cultivation in Portugal (Table 2). Beka is the check cultivar for malting quality.

Selection of varieties originating from different regions with dissimilar agro-climatic conditions showed the high adaptation capacity of some two-row barleys. This information on agronomic and quality values showed to Portuguese scientists the importance of germplasm from central Europe, especially Germany.

Results and discussion

In order to study germplasm adaptation and to isolate the most suitable genotypes for the variable agro-ecological conditions of Portugal, we analyzed the EBC data (EBC, 1979; 1980; 1981; 1982; 1983; 1984; 1985; 1986; 1987; 1988).

The examination included 53 genotypes of different origins, 33 of which were grown for two years of trials in EBC. A summary of these trials from the three southern region countries, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, is presented in Figure 1.

Only six genotypes were considered favorable for the southern zone because according to the coordinates they had: relative yield equal or superior to 100% and waste values lower than 9%. Varieties that reached these values were: Patty, Europa, Ideal, Torkel, Arena, and Berolina. The yield of selected varieties in other EBC regions are presented in Figure 2. If the data from Figures 1 and 2 is considered together, the best results were found for Patty and Europa. The varieties were released by German breeders. The results show the possibility of selecting promising two-row barley varieties from different European breedinq centers.

Main production constraints of two-row barley varieties in Portugal are lodging and high susceptibility to diseases as Rynchosporium secalis and Helminthosporium spp. Also, BYDV is becoming an important problem. Thus, in spite of the good fitness of European varieties, local breeding efforts are needed to achieve new genetic combinations that can help to solve the principal constraints to malting barley production in Portugal.

Table 1. Pedigrees of new Portuguese barley varieties.
Table 2. Origin and pedigree of varieties under cultivation in Portugal.

Figure 1. -- Genotype-environment interaction in Southern region related iwth 33 varieties from 7 countries with two years of trials during the period of 1978-1988.

Figure 2. -- Yield of 6 varieties, in percentage over the average in North, West and center regions of EBC trials, during two years.

References:

European Brewery Convention

(1978). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 29.
(1979). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 30.
(1980). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 31.
(1981). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 32.
(1982). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 33.
(1983). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 34.
(1984). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 35.
(1985). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 36.
(1986). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 37.
(1987). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 38.
(1988). Report of the barley committee. Vol. 39.
(1988). Advances in malting barley 1988. Published by the barley and malt group of the European Brewery Convention.

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