1'IBR.AFOf OF THE UNIVERSITY Of ILLINOIS G30.7 AGRICULTURE NON CIRCULATING CHECK FOR UNBOUND SLATING COPY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS Agricultural Experiment Station BULLETIN No. 297 VARIETIES OF BARLEY FOR ILLINOIS BY GEORGE H. DUNCAN, ROBERT W. STARK, AND W. L. BURLISON URBANA, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER, 1927 SUMMARY Barley is becoming of increasing importance in Illinois, and is being included in crop rotations as a competitor of oats. Its principal use is as a feed for livestock. Eight varieties of barley have been tested at the DeKalb ex- periment field in northern Illinois for periods ranging from one to ten years. Nine varieties have been tested at Urbana in central Illinois for one to eleven years. Oderbrucker, Wisconsin Pedigree, Silver King, and Black Barb- less have given the highest yields on both fields. All of these, with the exception of Black Barbless, belong to the Manchuria group of barleys. The northern two-thirds of the state may be considered in a general way spring barley territory, tho no definite limit to the south- ern boundary can well be ascribed. Barley should be sown early. The average date of seeding at Urbana has been about April 3, while at DeKalb it has been about April 16. The seed bed should be prepared as for oats and the seed sown at the rate of 1.5 to 2 bushels to the acre, either with a drill or an end-gate seeder. A mixed crop of barley and oats, in a two-year trial at DeKalb and a four-year trial at Urbana, produced a greater weight of grain an acre than oats grown alone, but the yield was not signifi- cantly greater than barley alone. Spring emmer grown at DeKalb and Urbana produced less than either barley or oats. Spring rye grown at DeKalb yielded somewhat more grain than did Marquis spring wheat but its acre value w r as less. A number of materials have been found to be effective as seed treatment against stripe and the covered and loose smuts, the prin- cipal diseases of barley. The most promising materials are Uspulun, Semesan, and Germisan. Soaking infected grain in a % -P ercen t so- lution of one of these substances has been found to control effectively all three barley diseases. VARIETIES OF BARLEY FOR ILLINOIS BY GEORGE H. DUNCAN, ROBERT W. STARK, AND W. L. BuRLisoN 1 Appreciation of the value of barley is gradually developing in Illinois. The acreage of barley in 1927 was seven times that in 1916. This increase probably is due to the relatively low market price of oats as well as to their comparatively low acre yield. Farmers, especially those in the central and northern part of the state, are fol- lowing good practice when they use barley as a substitute for at least a part of the oats crop. It is already a common crop in the northern fourth of Illinois, especially in Boone, DeKalb, and Kane counties. As a nurse crop for clover and alfalfa, barley is more satisfactory than winter or spring wheat, winter rye, or late oats, and is as good as, and frequently better than early oats. In gross acre value it has exceeded oats by 29 percent as an average of the ten-year period 1916- 1925 in Illinois. 2 It has exceeded rye by 37 percent and hay by 13 percent. Corn has surpassed barley by 22 percent and wheat has sur- passed it by 6 percent. If the net acre value of these crops were con- sidered, barley would likely compare more favorably with corn. In its feeding value the grain of barley is similar to corn. It is, however, somewhat higher than corn in digestible protein, slightly lower in digestible carbohydrates, and contains only about one-third as much digestible fat. If the European corn borer should become a serious handicap to corn growing in Illinois, it is probable that barley will be grown in a part of the area now devoted to corn, since it is not so seriously injured by the insect as is corn. The development of high-yielding barleys having smooth or barb- less beards, toward which remarkable progress has already been made, will entitle this crop to a more favorable consideration than it has heretofore received. This bulletin reports the results of variety tests of barleys made on the experiment fields at DeKalb and Urbana in the northern and central parts of Illinois from 1915 to 1926. Some general information also is given about the crop and its uses. Barley Used Mainly for Feed Barley finds its principal use as a feed for livestock. In the Northwest it is fed to all classes of livestock, taking the place of corn very largely. Because of the hardness of the grain it is generally agreed that for best results barley should be coarsely ground or rolled for most animals before being fed. When used for lambs, however, J George H. Dungan, Assistant Chief in Crop Production; Robert W. Stark, Associate; W. L. Burlison, Chief. "Statement is based on crop statistics contained in U. S. Department of Agriculture yearbooks. 43 44 BULLETIN No. 297 [October, the whole barley grain produces gains equally as good as ground bar- ley. Finely ground barley is difficult for animals to eat, forming a pasty mass in their mouths. Barley is fed to horses rather exten- sively on the Pacific slope and to some ex- tent in the northern states and Canada. Pound for pound, crushed or rolled bar- ley is said by some authorities 1 to be bet- ter than oats for work horses. Barley is some- what more fattening than oats and less fat- tening than corn. The Danes consider ground barley and oats one of the best feed* mixtures for dairy cows. 1 The Scandina- vians regard corn and barley as equally val- uable for milk produc- tion, and at the Wis- consin Station ground barley was found to be "equal to ground corn when forming 60 percent of the concen- trate mixture." 1 A good deal of bar- ley is fed to swine in the northern states. In Europe and Canada it is the most common grain for hogs. It pro- duces a firmer fat than corn, and this charac- teristic has gained it the distinction of be- ing the best feed for DISTRIBUTION OP BARLEY IN 1925 Barley is now a common crop in the north- ern fourth of the state, especially in Boone, De- Kalb, and Kane counties, where it is used as a substitute for at least a part of the oats crop. Each dot on the above map represents 1,000 acres. (Data taken from Circular 349, Illinois Crop and Live Stock Statistics issued by the U. S. Department of Agriculture cooperating with the Illinois Department of Agriculture.) 'Henry and Morrison in "Feeds and Feeding." 1927] VARIETIES OF BARLEY FOR ILLINOIS 45 the production of prime quality bacon. In trials at the Michigan Sta- tion 1 the pigs fed barley were reported to have made gains "which were very satisfactory, but not quite so rapid as those fed corn." For 100 pounds gain the pigs fed barley required 50 pounds more grain than the corn- fed pigs, but they consumed 9 pounds less tankage. Barley is relatively poorer for sheep than for any other class of livestock. Henry and Morrison in summarizing the results of some feeding trials conclude that "while barley is an excellent feed for fat- tening lambs, it is worth 18 to 20 percent less a ton than shelled corn." As already stated, it is not necessary to grind barley for sheep. In the states adjoining the west coast of the United States, barley is very commonly used as hay. When desired for this purpose, it is cut in the milk or soft-dough stage. It occasionally is used as a nurse crop for alfalfa in the corn belt, and when used in this way is frequently harvested for hay. The value of barley hay is about the same as that of good oat hay. The rough beards, however, sometimes cause sores in the mouths of animals, particularly horses. This harm- ful effect is worse when the barley has been cut late or when animals are fed barley straw. Upper Mississippi Valley Favors Manchuria Type There are a number of distinct groups of barley varieties which are variously adapted to different conditions of soil and climate. The Manchuria type has proved superior in the upper Mississippi valley. It consists of a number of closely related varieties of spring barleys that are particularly well adapted to regions of abundant spring and early summer rainfall. Manchuria Type Well Adapted to Northern Illinois During the eleven years covered by the tests at DeKalb in DeKalb county four of the eight varieties tested have proved outstanding in their superior yielding ability. These are Wisconsin Pedigree, Oder- brucker, Michigan Black Barbless, and Silver King, all of the Man- churia type except Michigan Black Barbless, which closely resembles the Manchuria. The different varieties have been grown for varying lengths of time, as shown in Table 1, and for this reason the average yields are not directly comparable. The percentage rating more nearly estab- lishes their relative yielding ability, but neither basis of comparison is so satisfactory as a comparison of averages for the same years, as arranged in Table 3. Compared in this way it is evident that the four varieties named Wisconsin Pedigree, Oderbrucker, Michigan Black Barbless, and Silver King are nearly equal in productiveness, Silver King being a little less productive than the other three. Beardless and Two-Rowed barley are decidedly inferior. 'Henry and Morrison in "Feeds and Feeding." 46 BULLETIN No. 297 [October, b * CO >O O OS * N <'.3 I s & <-i 'OOOOt^iO d as o! OSO^CCOOOOOJOO p B ! S > o.. <<: CO5iOQOOI^TlicO miOioiftcocoNCs o ^ O N N -OO M Si'C -i a ot^ i 2a < t^(N CO M _ ^.S CON -TJIOO .2 i'& O -TfcO * co^ !HW> B a OOOO-* .... g P SI << ooo^ i 1 O M o si < t~^j< -co NCO -IM "8 *2 rHCO -OCO 'OS "o R 5 t~CO -(NO -N t^t~. -mco -co a 2 fc s tOOO -OOS ->O i o'E ^ o, ! -ICO -Noco O =5? ^.OOSCOt-OO "3 00 O 2 i* O co oo oo o ^< ^ ^ co co co ! a CO -i-l -O w sl o -o ->o o ti _ rt fc OS -O -O X o 13 2s 00 "CO 'OS "ffl o co OS ^ A z g si .i .10 -O CO *CO *CO \ S 2 cs -co -os ~3 5 03 I CO -CO -