News & Media

WA Barley MRZ (FAR WAE II B25-55)

The Germplasm Evaluation Network (GEN) is a FAR Australia ‘Industry Innovations’ initiative that tests crop variety performance across FAR Australia’s national network of Crop Technology Centres. GEN sites test variety performance with and without fungicide. FAR Australia provides the control varieties and breeders enter their chosen lines for evaluation.

Key Points
• A wetter growing season overall resulting in barley yields that were on average 0.5t/ha higher than 2024 for a similar sowing date. Yields ranged from 4.8 – 6.1t/ha.
• There was no interaction between variety and fungicide management, which means all varieties responded in a similar way to management. However, overall varieties yielded slightly higher with fungicides applied, likely driven by low Net Form Net Blotch (NFNB) and Spot Form Net Blotch (SFNB) infections
• Neo CL was the highest yielding variety, averaging 5.94 t/ha across fungicide treated and untreated plots.
• Fungicide management did not affect any grain quality parameters measured, with the main differences generated by variety.
• No variety was able to achieve malt status with only Neo CL and RP21011 producing proteins <12% or Minotaur, Rosalind and AGT-Bunyip IA the only varieties to achieve test weights above 65 kg/hl. Most notably the trial suffered from high screenings and low retention with Minotaur and AGT-Bunyip IA producing the best results however still considerably outside the malt status parameters. These results are likely due to the drier and hotter than average conditions experienced during grain fill.
• At the time of writing RGT Planet, Neo CL and Minotaur are malt accredited varieties while AGT-Bunyip IA and RGT Atlantis have entered the Grains Australia malt accreditation program, with a target decision date in 2027.