MAYVIEW (Garfield County) SPRING BARLEY – 2005 WSU VARIETY TESTING DATA 

1.       2005 Spring Barley data from the WSU Variety Testing nursery at the Mayview location averaged 2560 lbs/acre that was 31% lower than the previous 3-year average of 3700 lbs/acre.  This nursery was planted re-crop following a 2004 winter wheat crop on 26 April 2005.  (The Mayview nursery is located approximately 20 miles NE of Pomeroy, WA on the breaks of the Snake River – about 5 miles from Lower Granite Dam, R. Koller farm).  The 2004 spring growing conditions with below normal precipitation until May 2005 followed by below normal precipitation in June and hot, dry conditions at the during grain fill undoubtedly contributed to the yield and test weight reductions observed in the 2005 crop.

2.       YIELD RANKINGS bounced around a lot when compared to 3-year historical trends. 6-row spring barley varieties appeared to suffer most from the 2005 growing conditions and basically nearly all 6-row varieties were lower in yield than 2-row varieties.  Much of this may have been a result of the tendency for 6-row barley varieties to develop fewer tillers, many with taller growth habits that may not have been as favorable for yields in 2005.

3.       Average HEADING DATE (29 Jun 2005) was about 5-days later than the average 2004 heading date (24 June 2004).

4.       TEST WEIGHT average (46.0 lbs/bu) was fairly light with a range of 42.5 to 49.9 lbs/bu for the 40 entries in the nursery.