New Tools for Breeding Forage Barley.

Annual forages are an important component of feeding operations in western Canada. Of these forages, barley plays an important role due to its good biomass yields and quality.  Under the auspices of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oat and Barley, the Western Cooperative Forage Barley Test is run annually to assess barley lines for their potential yields and quality when grown across western Canada. In 2012, the Western Cooperative Forage Barley Test consisted of 13 entries plus three checks (Virden, AC Ranger and Vivar) grown at seven locations (data for five locations, Brandon, Hamiota, Melfort, Goodale, Saskatoon were available for analyse while the Lacombe and Russell data were not available for analyses, one due to lack of fertility data at the time of rollup and the other was lost due to adverse environmental conditions during the 2012 growing season). These tests were harvested at the soft dough stage and samples were dried to determine dry matter yield (DMY) and quality analyses. Forage quality assessment of crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), cell wall digestibility (CWD), in vitro true digestibility (IVTD), and starch was determined on ground samples using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology using previously developed predictive equations and validated using reference methods. Carrying capacity (cow/ha/day) and daily feeding cost ($/cow/d) were estimated. Genotypic differences were found in the lines tested in 2012 for many of these traits and the best could be exploited to reduce on-farm production costs.