![Photo: Combine harvesting barley. Link to photo information](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090509201908im_/http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/k3937-14c.jpg)
ARS scientists at Aberdeen, Idaho, and their
university colleagues have developed two barleys that can out yield the
industry standard. Click the image for more information about it.
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![For further reading](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090509201908im_/http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/For-further-reading.gif)
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"Lenetah" and "Tetonia": Two
Top-Notch Barleys for Bovines
By Marcia Wood
March 6, 2009 For more than a decade, a barley named
"Baronesse" has reigned as the undisputed queen of feed barleys in
Idaho. That's an impressive record in a state that's the nation's No. 2
producer of this golden grain.
But Baronesse's superiority is being challenged by barleys from
Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
scientists in Aberdeen, Idaho, and their University of Idaho colleagues. Regionally
adapted barleys from their ongoing barley breeding program are edging ahead of
Baronesse's record yields.
For example, a barley called "Lenetah" yielded more tons per acre
of plump, nicely filled kernels in northern Idaho research trials than did
Baronesse. Those yields led ARS plant geneticists and barley breeders
Don
Obert and Darrell Wesenberg (now retired) and university co-investigators
to make Lenetah seed available to other researchers and plant breeders for the
first time last year.
Lenetah seems best suited for rain-fed fields of northern Idaho and eastern
Washington, while "Tetonia," another barley from Aberdeen, does best
in irrigated farmlands of southern Idaho. Like Lenetah, Tetonia has moved ahead
of Baronesse in terms of yields. Tetonia produced yields 2 to 6 percent higher
than those of Baronesse in tests conducted from 2001 to 2006 in Idaho and
elsewhere in the West. The research team released Tetonia in 2007.
Lenetah and Tetonia, the newest barleys from the Obert-Wesenberg team, join
the series of improved barleys from these plant breeders and others at ARS'
Aberdeen-based
Small
Grains and Potato Germplasm Research Unit.
The biggest "customers" for feed barleys, from both a literal and
financial standpoint, are dairy cows and beef cattle. The grain provides
proteins, carbs, and other nutrients essential for the health of the big
bovines, and is a nutritious alternative to corn.
The scientists have documented their work in an article published in the
Journal of Plant
Registrations.
Small quantities of Lenetah and Tetonia seed are available from researcher
Obert at Don.Obert@ars.usda.gov.
ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.