Production. Utah's harvested barley acreage took another significant drop from 107,000 acres in 1994 to 93,000 in 1995. An unusually wet spring caused some challenges in planting the crop and spraying weeds. However, the resulting crop was very good, with a 20 percent higher yield per acre (90 bushels vs. 75 bushels) in 1995 and a total production exceeding that of the previous year. Diseases were generally minor. Barley stripe rust occurred late at Logan, but did not cause severe losses. Infestations of the Russian wheat aphid and the cereal leaf beetle were spotty.

Breeding Program. Our breeding program continues to emphasize the development of strong-strawed feed barleys for production under high-yielding irrigated conditions, where lodging is a regular major problem. Drought- and heat-tolerant types for production on our non-irrigated lands are also of importance.

Cultivars. Two new barleys (UT1705L, named 'Century' and UT 1705D, named 'Statehood') were released for registered seed production in 1996. These are sister selections from the cross WA641566/ 'Bracken.' Both are high-yielding, rough awned, 6-row spring feed barleys, best adapted for irrigated production. Compared to Steptoe, Century grows slightly taller, has better straw strength, and higher test weight. Statehood grows slightly shorter than Steptoe and has significantly better straw strength. Both new cultivars have produced higher grain yields of higher protein content than that of Steptoe in Utah tests and in the Western Regional Spring Barley Nursery.