The Australian barley industry is set to receive a significant production boost following the release of three new acid-tolerant barley lines to Australian barley breeding programs.

Designed to be high yielding on acidic soils and to eliminate a blue taint in the grain which renders grain undesirable to commercial markets, the lines will underpin the development of new high-yielding varieties for Australian barley producers.

The new varieties will have application across the country, and are particularly important in WA’s grain belt, where the State’s acidic soils have historically constrained barley yield and quality.

The new lines are the culmination of long-term research by the Western Barley Genetics Alliance, a partnership between Murdoch University and the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, with co-investment from the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

In earlier breakthrough genetic research, the Alliance developed barley lines that could withstand acidic soils, however these lines also produced a blue hue in the aleurone layer of the grain (the layer just below the husk).

Barley varieties bred using these lines were prone to expressing the blue aleurone, which is unacceptable to commercial markets. In the new lines, the blue aleurone has been replaced by a white aleurone.

Advances in molecular marker technology and the recently mapped barley genome were used by the Alliance to develop the blue-free acid-tolerant barley.

Alliance director Professor Chengdao Li said growers were excited by the breakthrough because it promises to deliver much higher and more profitable yields for WA’s barley farmers.

“The team combined molecular marker technology and conventional crossing methods to break the link between the gene controlling acid tolerance and the gene responsible for blue aleurone colour. This has resulted in new base germplasm (lines) that combine acid soil tolerance with white aleurone, from which new, superior barley lines can be developed,” he said.

In addition to the improved barley lines, the Alliance will also deliver molecular markers to the breeding program, which will make the exploitation of these lines by breeding programs much more efficient.

Professor Li expects new, improved barley varieties to be available commercially within five years to help maintain Australia’s access to valuable international barley markets.