WALLA WALLA SPRING BARLEY – 2005 WSU VARIETY TESTING DATA 

1.       2005 Spring Barley data from the WSU Variety Testing nursery at the Walla Walla location averaged 2639 lbs/acre that was 15% lower than the previous 3-year average of 3635 lbs/acre.  Just like spring wheat at this location, this nursery was planted on re-crop following a 2004 winter wheat crop and the 2005 spring growing conditions contributed to yields that were lower than the historical averages.

2.       TEST WEIGHT values were a little light averaging 46.0 lbs/bu in this nursery – again, influenced by the seasonal growing conditions.  6-row variety Test Weight averages (43.0 lbs/bu) were substantially below 2-row variety average Test Weights (47.0 lbs/bu). This is not uncommon since 6-row varieties typically have lower test weight values.

3.       Yield rankings generally followed 3-year historical trends at this location with Baronesse and new varieties with Baronesse parentage having the highest average yields.  6-row spring barley varieties appeared to suffer most from the 2005 growing conditions by averaging 17.6% (483#) lower yields than the average of the 2-row varieties in the nursery. 

4.       The historical 3-year average data set probably best represents spring barley performance at this location due to a fairly high variation (CV %) in this 2005 nursery caused by the unique 2005 spring growing conditions.