Conrad

Barley

Variety Description

Varieties used for comparison: 'B1202' and 'Harrington'

Summary: 'Conrad' is a two row malting barley which has a shorter spike than 'Harrington'. 'Conrad' has a shorter first rachis segment than 'B1202'. The glume and awn of the median spikelet of 'Conrad' is shorter than the grain,whereas in both reference varieties the glume and awn are equal in length to the grain.'Conrad' is a two row malting barley which has a shorter spike than 'Harrington'. 'Conrad' has a shorter first rachis segment than 'B1202'. The glume and awn of the median spikelet of 'Conrad' is shorter than the grain,whereas in both reference varieties the glume and awn are equal in length to the grain.

Description:

'Conrad' is a two-row, malting barley variety that has an erect juvenile growth habit. The coleoptile is green. At tillering the plants are erect and have no pubescence on the sheaths of the lower leaves. There is strong anthocyanin colouration on the auricles of the flag leaf.

The spike of 'Conrad' emerges mid-season. The collar is saucer shaped. The variety has moderate anthocyanin colouration in the tips of the lemma awns. The spike is glossy and erect in attitude. It is parallel in shape and is lax in density. The sterile spikelet is parallel to weakly divergent. The first segment of the rachis of 'Conrad' is short in length, and slightly recurved. The glume is half the length of the kernel and the glume awn is equal in length to the glume. The lemma awns are rough.

'Conrad' kernels are hulled and have a colourless aleurone layer. The rachilla hairs are long. Spiculation of inner lateral nerves of the dorsal side of the lemma is weak and there is no hairiness in the ventral furrow. 'Conrad' has clasping lodicules and a horseshoe shaped basal marking. The kernels are medium in width and medium to long in length.

'Conrad' has fair to good resistance to lodging and straw breaking. The variety has good resistance to shattering. Tolerance to neck breaking and drought is fair. 'Conrad' has good malting quality.

Origin & Breeding History: 'Conrad' originated from a single cross between 'B1215' and '2B88-5336'. The cross was made in the greenhouse in Fort Collins, Colorado in the spring of 1993 and was assigned the cross number C93-5216. The female parent ('B1215') is a two row malting barley developed and released by Busch Agricultural Resources Inc. (BARI). The male parent is an unreleased two row malting BARI breeding line derived from a cross between 'B1202' and 'TR488'. The F1 generation was sown in the greenhouse in the fall of 1993 and the subsequent F2 generation was planted the following spring and harvested in bulk in Idaho Falls, Idaho. A random subsample of 196 seeds were taken from the bulk harvest to produce an F3 single seed descent generation in the greenhouse in the fall of 1994 and a subsequent F4 generation in early 1995. Approximately 196 individual F4 heads were harvested and planted as F5 head rows in Idaho Falls during the 1995 growing season. A single head was harvested from each selected F5 row to produce an F6 increase generation in a counter-season nursery near Christchurch, New Zealand. The line designation of 2B96-5057 was assigned to seed harvested from the New Zealand increase and was entered into the first year replicated yield trials as an F5 derived F7 line during the 1996 growing season in Idaho Falls and Fairfield, Montana. In 1998 head selections were made at Fort Collins from a uniform and stable F9 population to initiate purification and multiplication. One hundred headrows were grown in Fort Collins in 1999. Thirty were selected and grown in 2000 in Fort Collins. Five of the 30 plots were selected in the winter of 2000/2001 to constitute Breeder Seed.

Tests & Trials: Tests and trials for 'Conrad' were conducted at Neapolis, Alberta during 2005. The trials consisted of three randomized replicates per variety, and each replicate consisted of four plots, for a total of 12 plots per variety. Each plot was 6 rows wide and 3.5 metres long. Results were supported by the official technical examination report purchased from the Plant Variety Protection office in the U.S.A.

Comparison tables for 'Conrad' with reference varieties 'B1202' and 'Harrington'

Length of flag leaf (cm)

Width of flag leaf (cm)

Length of spike (cm)

Plant height (cm)

Kernel weight (per 1000 seeds)