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Identify top performing barley cultivars in central Montana.
Off-station spring barley variety trials were established at Denton and Geraldine. Denton was planted in lentils while Geraldine was a summer fallow the previous year. Each variety was planted in three 5 x 15 ft plots in a randomized experimental design to determine differences between varieties. Seeding dates were 29 April at Denton, 4 May at Geraldine, and 18 May at Judith Gap. Planting depth was 1 inch at a rate of 20 seeds/ft2. Starter fertilizer, 20-30-20-10 NPKS, was applied at seeding at a rate of 50 lb/ac. Plots were harvested with a small-plot harvester on 1 August at Denton and 13 August at Geraldine. The trial at Geraldine suffered extensive grasshopper damage. The barley trial at Judith Gap was not harvested due to drought and wildlife damage.
The growing season started with near average temperatures and precipitation for May. Average annual precipitation was 11.34 inches in Moccasin. In 2021, total annual precipitation was below the 110-year average. Average annual temperature was 2.6°F higher than the 110-year mean, with other notable individual monthly averages of 9.6°F warmer in December and 10.8°F below average in February. July was the hottest month with an average monthly temperature of 72.9°F (6.9°F above normal). Rainfall was 2.46 inches below average in June, .58 inches below the July average with August receiving 1.18 inches above average. Below average rainfall in June (80% below the 110-year average) coinciding with much higher temperatures which persisted throughout much of the growing season (Table 1) likely contributed to poorer than average yield performance for many of the trials.
Average grain yield across the 14 cultivars presented in Tables 2 through 3 was 8.0 bu/ac at Denton and 7.5 bu/ac at Geraldine. Average protein was 15.0% at Denton and 13.9% at Geraldine.
Drought conditions resulted in low yields throughout the region. In addition, extensive grasshopper damage at Geraldine resulted in yields that were well below the historic average.
An expenditure summary will be provided by OSP. No additional grant support was provided for this project.
A request for continuing this project was submitted for funding consideration for the next fiscal year. Funding was awarded. Thank you!