Annual Progress Report on Malting Barley Research March, 2002

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6. Breeding for Pest Resistance
Increased efforts are underway to breed for resistance to relatively new or potential pest
problems in the Pacific Northwest. The priority order of effort is barley stripe rust
(collaborating with X. Chen and D. Wesenberg), soil borne root diseases (collaborating
with R.J.Cook), Hessian fly (collaborating with R. Ratcliffe), and Russian wheat aphid
(collaborating with D. Mornhinweg). Breeding lines resistant to these pests are emerging
in the breeding program.
Future Directions
Future directions of the barley improvement program at WSU include the development of
improved germplasm both at the pre- and post-cultivar release stages. Barley malting,
brewing, and nutritional quality will continue to be emphasized along with yield and
adaptation. New selection procedures will be employed to improve the efficiency,
effectiveness, and acceleration of the cultivar development program. The barley genome
mapping project will contribute to breeding efficiency and effectiveness through
improved genetic knowledge of economically important traits and molecular markerassisted
selection procedures. This is a particular emphasis currently. A gradual
movement toward transformation of barley as techniques become available is ongoing
with cooperative studies. Associated basic genetic and biochemical characterization
studies of malting and nutritional quality traits will continue.
WSU Barley Program Personnel
S. E. Ullrich, Professor and Scientist, Project Leader.
A. Kleinhofs, Professor/Scientist, Collaborator, molecular genetics and breeding, WSU.
D. von Wettstein, R.A. Nilan Distinguished Barley Professor, Collaborator,
proanthocyanidin free barley, transformation, WSU.
V. A. Jitkov, Breeding Field Research Associate, in charge of field/greenhouse/seedhouse
operations.
J. A. Clancy, Research Technologist III, in charge of the barley quality and molecular
genetics lab with partial support from AMBA.
M.C. Dugger, Research Technologist I, breeding field/greenhouse/seedhouse assistant .
C. Kruger, M.S. Graduate Research Assistant working on evaluation of barley traits
associated with direct-drilled cropping systems.
W. Hotchkin, M.S. Graduate Research Assistant.
ADDITIONAL COOPERATIVE EFFORTS OCCUR WITH THE FOLLOWING SCIENTISTS:
X. Chen - barley stripe rust, USDA-ARS, WSU.
R.J. Cook - root diseases, WSU.
B.-K. Baik – barley food quality, WSU.