The Western Australia Department of Agriculture’s new Baudin barley is set to become the variety of choice in southern medium rainfall areas and an excellent alternative to Gairdner.

Speaking at the recent Agribusiness Crop Updates, barley research officer Leanne Schulz said Baudin represented a significant step forward in malting quality barley and had recently been given General Malting classification.

Growers were presented with the information at regional Crop Updates at Merredin, Kondinin and Newdegate this week.  Further Updates will run at Esperance on 9 March and Jerramungup on 11 March.

“The release of Baudin will ensure Western Australia continues to be a preferred supplier of high quality malting barley and should be well received by international barley markets, particularly Japan and China,” she said. 

Ms Schulz said Baudin and Gairdner were both high yielding barley varieties with superior malting quality, but growers should select the variety which best suited their location.

“Baudin has a wider regional adaptation and other advantages over Gairdner for straw strength and head loss, but is more susceptible to the leaf blotch diseases and powdery mildew,” she said.

“In southern and central high rainfall areas, Gairdner is currently the highest yielding malting variety when sown early.  It is the best malting variety for southern barley growers who require a tall crop for swathing to manage grain moisture and lodging at harvest. 

“Gairdner’s intermediate resistance to powdery mildew is also useful in areas with a high risk of powdery mildew infection reducing the cost of fungicide inputs and the risk of developing fungicide resistance.”

Ms Schulz said Baudin should be selected as an alternative to Gairdner where a short, stiffer-strawed variety was useful at harvest to reduce lodging, head loss and excessive straw passing through the header and where powdery mildew could be effectively managed.

She said market signals suggested there was only room for one malting variety to be grown in the northern high rainfall areas, with a preference for Baudin.

“In medium rainfall and northern high rainfall areas, Baudin has a greater probability of meeting malting specifications than Gairdner because it has a rounder grain shape that translates to a lower level of screenings,” Ms Schulz said. 

This plumper grain and high daylength sensitivity means that Baudin is less sensitive to changes in grain quality from altering crop management and has wider adaptation to rainfall zones, sowing dates, rotations and soil types.

“However, growers may choose to grow Gairdner because its taller straw offers ease of harvest in uneven terrain and it is less susceptible to net-type net blotch.”

Baudin was developed by the Department of Agriculture and supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the Western Malting Barley Council.

The Crop Updates seminars are supported by the Department of Agriculture and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.