We are the Oregon State University Barley Breeding Program. Our principal area of research is in genetics and breeding, but our fascination with barley is wide-ranging. Stay up to date on current topics, research, and project happenings.
Announcing the release of Successor spring 2-row feed barley with tolerance to imidazolinone herbicide soil residues.
Why just survive, when you can succeed?™
There’s a new option for Clearfield® dryland wheat growers who are interested in spring barley as a rotation: OSU Successor™. This new doubled haploid barley variety has the IMI tolerance of its parent “WSU Survivor” plus the agronomic benefits of its parent “OSU Lightning”. The lightning-fast development of the variety (the cross was made in 2017) was funded by the Oregon Wheat Commission. Successor is available for non-exclusive license – please contact Denis Sather (OSU Advantage - denis.d.sather@oregonstate.edu) for details. For more information on the variety, please contact Pat Hayes (OSU Barley Project - hayesp@oregonstate.edu). For the full variety release, click here.
Announcing the release of Lontra 2-row winter malting barley
Craft maltsters and brewers take heart: there’s a New World Otter that may provide you with interesting options compared to the Old World Otter (who goes by the name of Maris). OSU is proud to announce the culmination of years of research and breeding, starting with the cross of 04-028-36 (a 2-row winter malting variety from Ackermann Saatzucht GMBH & CO) with Maris Otter. The resulting doubled haploid array - the “Romp of Otters” - was put through extensive agronomic, malting quality, and brewing trials. DH142010 was selected as The Lontra and is now ready for its commercial debut. Lontra is available for non-exclusive license – please contact Denis Sather (OSU Advantage - denis.d.sather@oregonstate.edu) for details. For more information on the variety, please contact Pat Hayes (OSU Barley Project - hayesp@oregonstate.edu). For a cheeky, informative write-up on Lontra, click here. For the full variety release, click here.
Adios a la Bombuchera
Mariona Subira-Martinez is back in Spain after a most productive post-doc at OSU. She dove into aleurone color with gusto, leading to the JASBC paper on the effect (or lack thereof) of blue aleurone on malting quality. She was the lead on taking roasted barley tea to new levels of analytics - paper nearly ready for submission. And finally, she created "Bombucha" - a kombucha based on roasted barley tea. That's the focus of a cross-cultural assessment organized by our colleagues Ann Colonna and Jessica Gutierrez at the Food Innovation Center (Portland). They are assessing consumer sensory perceptions/opinions/preferences of roasted barley tea and bombucha in the US, Korea, and Spain. Stay tuned! Thanks, Mariona, and looking forward to our future collaborations.
"Lightning" barley from the OSU Barley Project
Facultative, disease resistant and capable of great malts.
Dormancy can have its advantages, and there are ways to deal with water sensitivity.
Check in with us fr suggestions, and share your experiences.
Read more from the Journal of Plant Registrations.
In The News
Oregon plant researchers get grant to promote the benefits of ‘naked barley’
Easier for farmers to process and healthier than its hulled counterpart, naked barley is being studied at Oregon State University thanks in part...
Naked barley research tops $10 million in grants
Efforts to develop new markets for naked barley recently crossed the $10 million mark with the award of a $3.5 million grant from USDA's...
Oregon State receives $3.5 million grant to develop barley varieties for chefs, brewers, farmers
“Interest in naked barley is increasing, particularly because of the health benefits,” said Brigid Meints, a barley breeder at Oregon State and...