An Overview of Barley Breeding and Variety Trials in Iceland in 1987-2014
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www.ias.is https://doi.org/10.16886/IAS.2017.02 ICEL. AGRIC. SCI. 30 (2017), 13-28 An overview of barley breeding and variety trials in Iceland in 1987-2014 Hrannar Smári Hilmarsson1, Magnus Göransson1,2, Morten Lillemo2, Þórdís Anna Kristjánsdóttir1, Jónatan Hermannsson1 and Jón Hallsteinn Hallsson1 1Agricultural University of Iceland, Keldnaholt, 112 Reykjavík, Iceland. 2Department of Plant Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway. E-mail: [email protected] (corresponding author) ABSTRACT Barley is of great importance in modern agriculture and is currently the fourth most important cereal after wheat, maize, and rice. It is well adapted to a range of climatic and day-length conditions, with a distribution from Ethiopia to northern Scandinavia. Despite this, Iceland, with its sub-arctic agriculture, is considered to be at the margin of barley cultivation. Still the importance of barley has steadily increased in Icelandic agriculture, most likely as the result of positive environmental change, continuous testing of new Nordic cultivars, and an Icelandic barley breeding project. Here we present a review of the results from barley cultivar trials from 40 locations over a 28-year period in Iceland in the years 1987-2014. The results showed that yields were rising and the time from sowing to harvest was getting shorter. Also, the Icelandic genotypes were heading earlier, while showing higher yields. The results also showed that test locations were getting fewer but at the same time the number of tested genotypes was increasing. The analysis presented here highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of the current breeding program and is therefore an important basis for future breeding projects for Icelandic agriculture and possibly for other small scale breeding projects aimed at peripheral areas. YFIRLIT Yfirlit um byggkynbætur og yrkjatilraunir á Íslandi 1987-2014. Bygg er mikilvæg nytjaplanta og er í fjórða sæti yfir mikilvægustu korntegundir í heiminu á eftir hveiti, maís og hrísgrjónum. Þó bygg hafi aðlagast fjölbreytilegum umhverfisskilyrðum, bæði loftslagi og daglengd, þá er ræktun á jaðri heimskautasvæðanna enn á mörkum þess mögulega, sem endurspeglast meðal annars í stuttri ræktunarsögu byggs á Íslandi og þeim erfiðleikum sem steðja að byggræktendum hérlendis. Þrátt fyrir það þá hefur mikilvægi byggs fyrir íslenskan landbúnað aukist nokkuð stöðugt undanfarin ár, sem meðal annars hefur verið skýrt sem afleiðing batnandi umhverfisskilyrða, prófana á erlendum byggyrkjum og kynbóta sérstaklega fyrir íslenskar aðstæður. Hér birtum við niðurstöður úr samanburðartilraunum á byggi sem fram hafa farið á 40 stöðum yfir 28 ára tímabili á árunum 1987-2014. Gögnin sýndu að tilraunastöðum fækkaði á meðan arfgerðum í tilraunum fjölgaði. Niðurstöðurnar sýndu að uppskera í tilraunum jókst á sama tíma og ræktunartímabilið styttist. Íslensku kynbótalínurnar skiluðu ekki aðeins meiri uppskeru í tilraunum heldur skriðu þær einnig fyrr. Niðurstöðurnar sem kynntar eru hér undirstrika bæði kosti og galla kynbótaverkefnisins og eru því mikilvægar áframhaldandi byggyrkjatilraunum fyrir íslenskan landbúnað og geta ef til vill nýst öðrum sambærilegum verkefnum á jaðarsvæðum. Key words: Barley, breeding, cultivar testing, marginal environment, sub-arctic agriculture. 14 ICELANDIC AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES INTRODUCTION growing barley in Iceland (Karlsson 2009). Barley (Hordeum vulgare L. ssp. vulgare) After the resumption of barley cultivation in is assumed to have been domesticated from Iceland, barley field trials have been conducted multiple wild progenitor populations most on and off since the middle of the 20th century. likely with a distribution similar to the current In 1960, the Swedish cultivar ‘Mari’ was distribution of the wild relative H. vulgare L. released (Gustafsson et al. 1971, Lundqvist ssp. spontaneum (Poets et al. 2015). Since its 2008), produced by induced mutagenesis from early domestication barley has been adapted to the cultivar ‘Bonus’. ‘Mari’ carries a deletion a great range of both climatic and day-length in the circadian clock regulator Mat-a gene, conditions, possibly assisted by the genetic making it day length neutral, which results in diversity incorporated through a multicentric domestication process (Allaby 2015). Barley is of great importance in modern agriculture and is the fourth most important cereal in the world after wheat, maize and rice (FAO 2017). Well suited to harsh climates, barley is by far the most important cereal crop in Iceland, where it is currently cultivated on around 5000 hectares with a top annual harvest of up to 16000 tons seen, for example, in the years 2009 and 2012 (Figure 1A). Despite this, the sub-arctic agriculture, characterized by a short and cool growth period, occasional very strong winds, risk of frost in both late spring and early autumn, and a long photoperiod, is still at the margin of barley cultivation. This is emphasized by the short continuous history of barley cultivation in Iceland, where it has been cultivated continuously only since 1923 (Hermannsson 1993), as well as the fluctuations in total harvest from year to year during that period. It is generally assumed that the early Icelandic settlers brought barley with them to Iceland in the 9th century and that Icelanders cultivated barley until sometime during the 13th century (Karlsson 2009). The reason for the abandonment of barley cultivation in Iceland is not known but two non-mutually exclusive ideas have been proposed. Firstly, climate change has been suggested to have negatively Figure 1. An overview of barley cultivation in Ice- affected the growing conditions during the so- land. (A) Total barley harvest in Iceland in 1992 to called Little Ice Age that is believed to have 2014. (B) Amount of barley seed imported in 2009- started between 1275 and 1300 (Miller et al. 2014, distinguishing between two-rowed (2R) and 2012). Secondly, lowering prices of barley in six-rowed (6R) cultivars. (C) Barley cultivars import- Europe and increased trade between Iceland and ed in 2009-2014, color coded based on the country of Europe, possibly coupled to worsening growing origin, with percentage of total imports from different conditions, may have reduced the benefits of countries in parentheses. BARLEY VARIETY TRIALS IN ICELAND 15 an early flowering phenotype (Gustafsson et al. in Finland from 1920-1987 showed no genetic 1971, Zakhrabekova et al. 2012). In addition, improvement in yield (Peltonen-Sainio & ‘Mari’ has a strong straw, making it resistant to Karjalainen 1991). lodging (Gustafsson et al. 1971, Zakhrabekova Although the results of field trials in Iceland et al. 2012). The cultivar was grown in Iceland are reported each year, a comprehensive review up until the 1980s with little success but has of the results has been lacking as well as an overall been used in crosses in the Icelandic breeding estimate of genetic improvement, especially for program. the Icelandic barley cultivars. Here we review As a result of a small-scale Icelandic data from 28 years of barley variety testing in barley breeding project, four cultivars have the period 1987-2014, including results for the been made commercially available by the Icelandic breeding material. The primary aim of Agricultural University of Iceland (previously the analysis presented here was to describe the the Agricultural Research Institute). These are plant breeding and cultivar trials in Iceland and ‘Skegla’ released in 2002, ‘Kria’ released in the difference between the Icelandic breeding 2004 (CPVO 2016), ‘Lomur’ released in 2007, material and foreign genotypes that were tested and ‘Skumur’ released in 2008. under the same conditions in Iceland during this Barley seeds used by Icelandic farmers period. This analysis is an important step in the are imported and seed import is filed at the ongoing Icelandic barley breeding project and Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority will provide Icelandic farmers with valuable (www.mast.is). Each year about 1000 tons information on available cultivars. of barley seeds are imported; for example in 2014 a total of 924 tons of barley seeds were MATERIALS AND METHODS imported, with close to equal amounts of Collected data 2-rowed and 6-rowed cultivars (Figure 1B). Data from annual cultivar trials for the period The barley cultivars selected for import are 1987-2014, a total of 28 years and 40 locations, mostly Norwegian, Finnish, and Swedish, in were selected for analysis. Although barley addition to the Icelandic lines that account for trials have been conducted in Iceland for a 32% of the Icelandic seed market, with ‘Kria’ longer period, and in a total of 60 locations, being the most popular. Imported cultivars with the dataset under review here was available in large market shares include ‘Filippa’, ‘Aukusti’, digital format and the trials all conducted in a ‘Judit’, and ‘Wolmari’ (Figure 1C). The lack similar fashion. Results for the cultivar trials of detailed data on grain yield in farmers’ have been published earlier in annual field trial fields makes assessment of cultivar selection reports (Fjölrit RALA 1988-2014, Rit LbhÍ problematic, but data from field trials could give 2005-2015) but the analysis presented here is an overview of yield potential in Iceland and aid based on a complete reanalysis of the original farmers in selecting the best suited cultivars for field data. Icelandic environmental conditions. The trials were generally set up in an alpha- Improvement due to barley breeding projects lattice design with two or three replicates, has been studied in several countries. In Norway, although in some cases other experimental for example, a 70% yield increase in farmers’ setups were used, but as this study is an overview fields was observed in the period 1946-2008 of the total variation within and between trials (Lillemo et al. 2010). About a 40% increase in during the timespan we chose to base analyses yield due to new cultivars was observed from on raw data from each plot. Samples where 1880-1980 in England and Wales (Riggst et al. plot data from replicates were missing were 1981).