BARLEY

Scientific Name : Hordeum vulgare

Family: Poaceae (Gramineae)
Origin:
Near-East region as probable place of origin
for Barley. Abyssinia is believed as centre of origin for
barley by one group and south East Asia (China, Tibet, Nepal)
by another group.
GEOGRAPHYCAL DISTRIBUTION :
Barley is cultivated all most similar to wheat
crop. In the world, Europe is the most predominant continent
growing Barley followed by Asia. The countries such as,
Russian federation, China, Canada, USA, Spain, France,
Australia, UK and India cultivate barley. In India, UP, Rajasthan,
MP, Haryana, Punjab and HP are the major states cultivating barley.

SOIL AND CLIMATIC REQUIREMENT:-

Soil requirement:
Barley is tolerant to salinity and alkalinity, but, sensitive to acidity. Barley, being
salt tolerant, best substitute for sodic soil. Drained, fertile deep loam soil with pH 7-8. Barley
grown in high N soils, often lodges.
Climatic requirement:
Climate necessary for successful barley cultivation is similar to wheat. It
performs well in cool climate. Warm and moist conditions are not conducive for barley growth.
It can’t tolerate to frost and frost and hail storm at flowering are more detrimental.
Season:
Under rainfed sow barley before end of October. In irrigated condition,
first or second fortnight of November is optimum time of sowing. In Hilly zones barley is sown
as summer crop in April-May months.

Seed rate: Irrigated condition – 100 kg/ha; Rainfed – 80-100 kg/ha.

Spacing:
22.5cm row spacing for irrigated and 22.5 to 25 for rainfed situation is optimum
for better yields. Depth of sowing must be 5cm under irrigated situation, whereas, in rainfed
condition it is 6-8cm.
Varieties:
• Two types: Huskless and Hulled barley.
• Huskless barley is preferred; Karan 18 & 19 are popular varieties and have more demand from
farmers.
• Suited for hills: Himani, Dolma, Kailash.
• Suited for rainfed areas: Ratna, Vijay, Azad, Ameru (best for malt).
• Suited for irrigated areas: Jyoti, Ranjit, Clipper (best for malt & brewing), Karan 18 & 19.
• Dual purpose (fodder and grain): Ratna, Karan2, Karan 5, Karan 10.
CULTURAL PRACTICES:-
Nutrient management:
• Apply FYM 12.5t/ha.
• Irrigated situation: 60:30:20 kg NPK/ha
• Malt barley: 30:20:20 kg NPK/ha
• Rainfed condition: 40:20:20 kg NPK/ha
• Method of application: 50% N and 100% P&K to be applied as basal. Remaining 50% N must be
applied during first irrigation.
• Rainfed condition: 100% NPK as basal.
• Light soils, N must be given in three equal splits such as basal, first irrigation and second
irrigation.
Water management:
• Water requirement is 200-300mm. 2-3 irrigations give good yields.
• Critical periods are, seedling / sprouting, active tillering, flag leaf and milking or soft dough
stages.
• Tillering and grain filling so crucial.
Weed management:
• Up to 30 days is critical weed free period for barley crop.
• Pendimethalin (pre-emergence) 1.0kg/ha or Post emergence herbicides Isoproturan @
0.75kg/ha + 0.5 kg 2,4DEE 3-5 leaf stage + one hand weeding proved effective weed control.
Cropping systems:
• Best barley based cropping systems are, Rice-barley, Sorghum–barley, Pearl millet-barley,
Cotton-barley, Blackgram-barley.
• Mixed cropping: Barley is raised as mixed crop with Chickpea, pea, mustard, linseed, lentil
Harvest:
Harvest the crop when the grains become hard and straw becomes dry and brittle.
Trash and winnow the grains. Use mechanical threshers to reduce the cost of threshing and
winnowing.
Yield:
3.0 – 3.5t/ha under ideal irrigated condition with straw of 4.0-5.0t/ha. In rainfed
situation, depending on the weather condition, yield levels vary from 1.5-3.0 t/ha.

BOTANY:-
Habit and habitat:
It is a self-pollinating, diploid species with 14 chromosomes. The wild ancestor
of domesticated barley, Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum, is abundant in grasslands and
woodlands throughout the Fertile Crescent area of Western Asia and northeast Africa, and is
abundant in disturbed habitats, roadsides, and orchards.
Roots:
The seminal rootlets of barley emerge when the seed germinates and form a
fibrous branched mass of roots, some of which extend deeply downwards. Later, at the tillering
stage, the adventitious root system arises from the crown, and this tends to be thicker and
less branched. Under some conditions such as drought, the adventitious roots may not develop
at all. In other cases, the seminal roots cease functioning during the life of the plant. Different
barley varieties can vary significantly in rooting system, and this can impact on their
competitive ability (Briggs 1978).
Leaves:
After germination, the coleoptile (a leaf sheath that encloses the embryonic
plant) reaches the surface and the first leaf emerges at its tip. The leaves grow rolled up from
the tube formed by the bases of earlier leaves, unrolling once emerged (Briggs 1978). Leaves
emerge continuously on the main stem and tillers until the final (flag) leaf emerges. Emergence
of the flag leaf is an important growth stage for timing the application of certain growth
regulators.
The mature leaves progressively senesce and gradually the whole plant dries out until
full maturity, when the grain is ripe (Briggs 1978).

Stems and Tillers:

Stem elongation usually starts when the plant is about 5 cm in height and
coincides with leaf emergence, tillering and spike formation (Briggs 1978). During stem
elongation the developing spike is carried upwards.
Tillers start to develop at about the 3-leaf stage (Figure 1). The number of tillers
and duration of tillering vary with variety and growth conditions (Briggs 1978). Some older
genotypes produce many tillers but develop few spikes, while most modern genotypes have a
higher percentage of tillers that develop spikes (Gomez-Macpherson 2001). In addition, winter
varieties usually produce more tillers than spring varieties during the vegetative growth period
over winter. In general, field grown barley plants typically produce 2–5 tillers (Briggs 1978;
Gomez-Macpherson 2001). Most tillers initiate adventitious roots, although later appearing
tillers often remain unrooted and die prematurely (Anderson-Taylor & Marshall 1983).

Developmental stages (life cycle)

Life Cycle Stages:
The development and growth of cereal grains have been translated into several
numericscales to quantify development for scientific and management purposes. The most
commonly used scales are the Feekes, Zadoks and Haun. Completion of development from
germination to maturity takes 280-359 days for winter barley and 3-3.5 months for spring
barley.
 Seed stage
o dormant seed Zadok stage 00; dry kernel.
o Germinating seed also called malt; Zadok stages 00-09; decimal code stages GS10-
GS19; this stage includes imbibition, emergence of radicle and emergence
ofcoleoptile; winter barley is sown in October.
 vegetative
o seedling Zadok stages 10-19; decimal code stages GS10-GS19; up to 9 or more
leaves unfolded on the main shoot; leaves appear about every 3 to 5 days
depending on variety and conditions; this stage lasts aproximately until mid-March.
o tillering growth of shoots (tillers) that sprout from the base of a grass; Zadok
stages 20-29; decimal code stages GS20-GS29; active tillering occurs from mid-
March until mid-April.
o stem elongation most tillers have been formed by this stage; Zadok stages 30-39;
decimal code stages GS30-GS39; by end of this stage pseudostem becomes erect;
floral primodia are initiated; blades of flag leaves become visible; this stage ends
in early May.
  reproductive
o booting at this stage, the head is fully developed and can be easily seen in the
swollen section of the leaf sheath below the flag leaf; Zadok stages 40-49;
decimal code stages GS41-GS49
o heading emergence of inflorescence; Zadok stages 51-59; decimal code stages
GS51-GS59; this stage completes in late May
o flowering also called anthesis; Zadok stages 61-69; decimal code stages GS61-
GS69
 ripening Zadok stages 71-99
o milk development Zadok stages 71-79; decimal code stages GS61-GS69
o dough development Zadok stages 81-89; decimal code stages GS81-GS89
o ripe plant reached physiological maturity and is harvest ready

INFLORESCENCE :-
 Spike
 Awned
 Soikelets always arranged
 Two parts (Lemma & Palea)
 Lemma(Hull) : outer covering
containing awn
 Palea(Husk) : beneath lemma
and covers grain

BREEDING MATHOD:
 Bulk Method
 Pedigree Method
 Mass Selection
 Pure Line Selection
 Black Cross Method
 Single Seed Descent method

SELFING:
 Because it is highly self-pollinated crop.
 Only 03%chance of crossing.
 For selfing simple cover the spike of desired plant with butter paper bag.

CROSSING:-
 EMESCULATION:
o Plant selection
o Spike selection (stage)
o Cut spike 1/3rd from top
o Cut spike 1/2nd of floret
o Remove anthers
o Cover the spike
o Tagging for female plant
  Pollination:
o Selection of male plant
o Cut 1/3rd of each floret
o Place spike in sunlight for almost 5 min
o Shred pollens on emasculation spike
o Tagging

Barley Research Institute:-

 National:
o Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, (Karnal, Haryana)
 International:
o International Barley Hub