Western Australian barley growers should persist with the new malting varieties Hamelin and Baudin despite higher screenings levels this season from dry spring conditions.

Department of Agriculture senior research scientist Blakely Paynter said many crops had been subjected to a dry August-September that contributed to higher screenings in all barley varieties.

Mr Paynter said as a result, the level of malting barley being received as malting was lower this year in most regions of the State.

The domestic market has received very promising results for these varieties and will be producing commercial batches this year.

“The demand by markets for Stirling as a malting variety will change once export customers have had more experience with Hamelin and Baudin.  Demand for Stirling however for the Japanese Shochu market is expected to remain sound for the next couple of years,” he said.

“For this reason, growers would benefit from keeping seed of the new varieties to gain confidence in growing them across a range of seasons.

“Our research shows that these new malting varieties have a role in Western Australia's farming systems and, over time, Hamelin is tipped to replace Stirling in the medium and low rainfall areas.  Baudin will compliment Gairdner in higher rainfall areas and be sown in place of Gairdner in some of the medium rainfall areas due to its plumper grain shape.”

Mr Paynter said screening levels in Hamelin and Baudin were expected to be higher than Stirling, but growers also needed to consider other aspects such as yield, market advantages, agronomic traits and disease susceptibility when selecting a variety.

“In terms of grain plumpness (or screening levels), long term results from Department research trials show Hamelin is equivalent to Schooner barley,” he said. 

“We expect the screenings levels in Hamelin to be 3-5 per cent higher through a 2.5mm sieve than Stirling.

Baudin’s screening levels are expected to be up to 6 per cent lower through a 2.5mm sieve than Gairdner, but between 2 to 2.5 times higher than Stirling.”

Mr Paynter said that the outlook for malting barley was very positive and that Western Australian grain growers would benefit in the longer term from the success of both Hamelin and Baudin.