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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Cereal Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #412835
Research Project: Integrated Analysis for Identifying Barley Lines with Superior Malting Quality

Location: Cereal Crops Research

Title: Registration of ‘Avalon’ winter malt barley

Author
item BROOKS, WYNSE - Virginia Tech
item GRIFFEY, CARL - Virginia Tech
item SABADIN, FELIPE - Virginia Tech
item VAUGHN, MARK - Virginia Tech
item LIU, LIMEI - Virginia Tech
item SEAGO, JOHN - Virginia Tech
item THOMASON, WADE - Virginia Tech
item LIGHT, JOHN - Virginia Tech
item RUCKER, ELIZABETH - Virginia Tech
item SANTANTONIO, NICHOLAS - Virginia Tech
item BROWNING, PHILLIP - Foundation Seed Farm
item MCMASTER, NIKI - Virginia Tech
item SCHMALE III, DAVID - Virginia Tech
item SAVILLE, BROOKS - Virginia Tech
item HARDIMAN, THOMAS - Virginia Crop Improvement Association
item CUSTIS, J. TOMMY - Virginia Tech
item JONES, KARL - Virginia Tech
item JONES JR, NED - Virginia Tech
item LILLARD, GREGORY - Virginia Tech
item Marshall, David
item Fountain, Myron
item Tuong, Tan
item LEE, MICHELLE - Virginia Tech
item OAKES, JOSEPH - Virginia Tech
item MOTT, JOSHUA - Virginia Tech
item Martens, Christopher
item Walling, Jason
item BETTENHAUSEN, HARMONIE - Hartwick College
item MACLEOD, AARON - Canadian Grain Commission

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/18/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Winter barley varieties are rapidly gaining interest in both traditional and nontraditional growing regions. Winter barleys can be planted in the late fall, overwinter in the field and mature earlier in the summer than spring barley types allowing for multiple crops per season, lower disease pressure, and improved soil health. This paper highlights a winter barley that recently was developed at Virginia Tech U and reports on multiyear field trials coupled with rigorous end-use quality assessment. The barley Avalon demonstrated good agronomic traits and excellent malting qualities including high extract potential, low beta glucan and moderate disease resistance.

Technical Abstract: ‘Avalon’ (PI 700308) is the first two-row, winter malt barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar developed by the Virginia Agricultural Experimental Station. It was released in May 2020. Prior to being named, Avalon was tested under the experimental designation VA16M-81. It was evaluated from 2018 to 2023 in the Eastern Malt Barley Trials (EMBT) at one to three locations in three states and in the Winter Malt Barley Trial (WMBT) from 2020 to 2023 in six to fifteen states. In the EMBT in Virginia, mean grain yield (5604 kg ha-1) of Avalon was higher to cultivar Violetta, but lower than those of ‘Flavia’, ‘Calypso’, and ‘Thoroughbred’. Average grain volume weight of Avalon (64.9 kg hL-1) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than the check cultivar, except to Violetta. Head emergence of Avalon was 3 days earlier than Flavia and Calypso and 1 to 2 days later than Violetta and Thoroughbred, respectively. Avalon was developed primarily as a malt barley cultivar. On the basis of malting evaluations, Avalon has acceptable quality profiles with specific quality traits including high extract, low protein content, and low beta-glucan for the years tested. Avalon provides malt barley producers and end users in the eastern U.S. with excellent malt quality and a unique and distinct flavor profile having good to moderate resistance to all diseases prevalent in the eastern United States. It is moderately susceptible to Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) but has moderately low deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation in the grain.