Research by the Department of Agriculture and Food has confirmed the new feed barley variety Litmus is the best available barley variety to grow on soils with an acidic profile.
The research, which was supported with funding from the Grains Research and Development Corporation, was presented today at the 2014 Agribusiness Crop Updates held at Crown Perth.
The two-day Crop Updates program, presented by the Grain Industry Association of WA on behalf of DAFWA and GRDC, has attracted a record attendance of more than 500 delegates.
Department senior research officer Blakely Paynter said the enhanced tolerance of Litmus to soil acidity increased the rotation options for growers on sandy textured, acidic soils in Western Australia.
“It doesn’t however reduce the need for lime. Lime is critical to the long term productivity of acidic soils,” Mr Paynter said.
“Litmus was bred from an acid-tolerant barley line and released by InterGrain and Syngenta as a feed barley for planting in 2014.”
Litmus is an early-maturing spring barley variety which is slightly shorter in plant height than Hamelin and Stirling, with a similar risk of lodging. It is moderately susceptible to powdery mildew and susceptible to all other leaf diseases.
The variety is being targeted at the low to medium rainfall areas of the central and northern Wheatbelt.
“Our research compared the performance of Litmus barley against 27 standard barley varieties and three wheat varieties on limed and un-limed acidic soils at Merredin and Wongan Hills in 2010 and 2011,” Mr Paynter said.
“The lime strips were set-up in 2008. Litmus out-yielded the established barley varieties Buloke, Hamelin, Hindmarsh, Mundah and Stirling by between 40 and 100 per cent in the below-average rainfall year of 2010.
“In the above-average rainfall year of 2011, Litmus out-yielded Hamelin, Mundah and Stirling by between 20 and 30 per cent, was 15 per cent higher-yielding than Buloke at Merredin and the same yield as Buloke at Wongan Hills.
“Litmus achieved the same yield as Hindmarsh at both sites in 2011.”
Mr Paynter said Litmus barley achieved the same grain yield as Calingiri and Wyalkatchem wheats in both the below-average rainfall year of 2010 and the above-average rainfall year of 2011.
“Our research confirms that Litmus provides growers with a new rotation option for paddocks with an acidic sub-soil, and a barley variety that provides a more stable grain yield in paddocks with patches of low sub-soil pH,” he said.
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