Effect of Nitrogen and Seeding Rate on β-Glucan, Protein, and Grain Yield of Naked Food Barley in No-Till Cropping Systems in the Palouse Region of the Pacific Northwest

Abstract

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) has a storied history as a food crop, and it has long been a dietary staple of peoples in temperate climates. Contemporary research studies have focused mostly on hulled barley for malt and animal feed. As such, nitrogen (N) and seeding rate agronomic data for naked food barley are lacking. In this study, we evaluated the effects of N on ß-glucan and protein content, and N and seeding rate on phenotypic characteristics of naked food barley, including grain yield, emergence, plant height, days to heading, days to maturity, test weight, percent plump kernels, and percent thin kernels. Experiments were conducted at two no-till farms, located in Almota, WA, and Genesee, ID, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest from 2016 to 2018. The experiment comprised two varieties (“Havener” and “Julie”), employed N rates of 0, 62, 95, 129, and 162 kg N ha−1, and seeding rates of 250, 310, and 375 seeds/m−2. Increased N fertilization rate was shown to significantly increase all response variables, except β-glucan content of the variety Julie, days to heading, test weight, and percent plump and thin kernels. Increased N fertilization resulted in higher mean grain yield of Havener and Julie in both Almota and Genesee up to 95 kg N ha−1. Havener had higher yields (3,908 kg N ha−1) than Julie (3,099 kg N ha−1) across locations and years. Julie had higher β-glucan (8.2%) and protein (12.6%) content compared to Havener (β-glucan = 6.6%; protein = 9.1%). Our results indicate that β-glucan content is associated with genotype, environmental, and agronomic factors in dryland cropping systems of the Palouse.

Spring barley malt quality in eastern Washington and northern Idaho

“…Habiyaremye et al. (2021) suggest that β‐glucan is related more to environmental factors, such as precipitation and temperature, than to fertility, as they found higher β‐glucan associated with increased rainfall and lower temperatures. These results are contrary to what has been generally reported in the literature, where β‐glucan content is said to increase under hotter, drier conditions (Meints & Hayes, 2019; Meints et al., 2015).…”

“…Habiyaremye et al. (2021) also conducted a study in the Palouse region and found that location had a significant effect on β‐glucan but not on protein content. Regarding β‐glucan stability, results from Choi et al.…”

“…Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated using all samples with the rcorr function in the Hmisc package (Frank et al, 2021). Stability measures were calculated using the metan package (Olivoto, 2021).…”

Barley and wheat beta-glucan content influenced by weather, fertilization, and genotype

“…Nitrogen (N) availability in the soil is the main factor influencing β-glucan content in cereals (Güler, 2003b;Dvončová et al, 2010). It was reported that mineral N fertilizers increase the β-glucan content (Güler, 2003a;Noworolnik et al, 2014;Habiyaremye et al, 2021), particularly when they are fertilized with 100 kg N ha −1 (for wheat) and 80 kg N ha −1 (for barley; Güler, 2003a) regardless of the fact that β-glucan location in the grain among compared cereal grains is different (mostly in aleurone layer for wheat and endosperm for barley; Izydorczyk and MacGregor, 2000;Lazaridou and Biliaderis, 2007). On the other hand, β-glucan content of rye, wheat, barley, and oat obtained from organic farming was comparable with those from conventional farming (Menkovska et al, 2017), indicating that β-glucan content can be associated with grain size and yield (Güler, 2003b).…”

Elucidation of gene action and combining ability for productive tillering in spring barley

“…Naked barley has a great potential as functional food for humans and highquality feed for animals (Yang et al, 2018;Habiyaremye et al, 2021). It is characterized by high protein content and many other important nutrients (Shaveta et al, 2019).…”