MALTING QUALITY TRAITS - Canadian Malting Barley Technical ...

Chapter Seven
responsible for barley. The PRCOB consists of three evaluation teams, with each team responsible for
an aspect of performance. The agronomy and breeding team evaluates field performance including
traits such as yield, straw strength, maturity and kernel physical characteristics. The pathology team
evaluates resistance to diseases including net blotches, scald, smuts, root rot and rust. The quality
team evaluates malting quality through laboratory and pilot-scale tests. Teams are comprised of
scientists, maltsters, brewers, farmers and extension specialists.
The primary source of data considered by the teams are the Western Canadian Barley
Cooperative preregistration tests and subsidiaries. Before entrance into these tests,
a breeding line must show potential merit compared to Canadian checks under Canadian
conditions. For malting barley, a minimum of four station years of field data collected
and a minimum of two years of malting quality from plots grown under prairie
conditions with comparisons to current quality checks are required. Once in the
Cooperative test (Co-op), two years of data are normally required before a variety is
considered for registration. The Co-op tests are grown at more than 20 sites in all of the
major agricultural regions of the Prairies as well as observation sites in the USA and
Eastern Canada. In addition to Co-op data, the quality team requires two years of malting
data from Collaborative testing. As the Collaborative testing program involves larger
plots, greater quantities of barley are tested. Only barley of selectable quality is malted. In
making a final decision, all data from both the Co-op and Collaborative tests are
considered, and strengths and weaknesses balanced. If supported by the PRCOB and
approved by the Variety Registration Office, a line is granted full registration.
The step after registration is to have a variety included in the recommended
category of the CMBTC’s Recommended Malting Barley Varieties List (see Figure
1). The Recommended Malting Barley Varieties List is used by producers as an aid in
deciding on appropriate varieties for seeding. The recommended category in the list
indicates which varieties of malting barley the industry feels will be in demand, both
domestically and internationally, in the coming year. The comments column implies
commercial acceptability of the variety.
Quality Testing
Testing the quality of malting barley involves several stages. Early generations are tested
by the breeding institutions and the Cereal Research Centre (Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada). The malting industry and the Canadian Grain Commission’s Grain Research
Laboratory (GRL) micro-malt larger barley samples from the Western Canadian Barley
Cooperative tests. In the Collaborative program, even larger quantities of barley are malted
by the CMBTC and then the industry and GRL using pilot-scale equipment. Lines tested collaboratively
must show the potential of a good malting barley variety that is worthy of registration
in Canada. However, testing does not stop with registration. A barley must perform well
during plant-scale testing in both malt houses and breweries before it is granted the final
seal of approval and inclusion in the recommended category of the Variety List. Before
a line ever reaches full commercial production, the malting and brewing qualities are well
understood. Table 1 outlines the development stages of a malting barley variety that is
recommended for commercial production in Canada.
Western Canadian Barley Cooperative Tests
The GRL’s first task is to determine the malting suitability of the barley from each
station of the Western Canadian Barley Cooperative test. As there is a limited capacity for malting and
malt analysis, only barley samples from some of the Co-op stations can be selected for malting. Samples
of check varieties (i.e. AC Metcalfe, Excel) from each of the 20 primary Co-op stations are sent to the GRL,
where barley quality testing is performed. Selection is based first on quality and second on station location.
An effort is made to select a station from each of the three soil zones that exist on the Canadian
Prairies. Barley parameters of interest include kernel plumpness, germination, protein content and
general appearance. This selection process is very similar to that of the commercial malt industry.
49