Nature Aids the Breeder

A fruitful method of getting improved varieties is to make selections from old varieties long grown in this country. The method has been used to advantage with winter barley, and is especially effective if natural selection has played a major role in first shaping the type of the old variety. Much of the barley first grown in the United States was a mixture of an indefinite number of strains, a condition than can be found even today. For example, take the old Tennessee Winter variety, which has been grown for many years. Gradually the acreage spread from its beginnings in Virginia and the Carolinas to the Mississippi and beyond. In these fields natural selection gradually shaped the type to fit a particular set of conditions. In this way, the winter-hardy types of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky and the less hardy types of the Atlantic seaboard and Texas evolved. It remained, therefore, for the plant breeder to select from these surviving populations the superior types adapted to local conditions.

Reno and Ward are two hardy kinds developed by selection from old varieties. Reno was distributed from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station in 1939. It was selected from a field on J. A. Johnson's farm at Hutchinson, Kans., who had grown winter barley for many years. Reno can stand cold better than most varieties and, for that reason, has made winter barley a safer crop to grow in Kansas and adjacent States. It matures early and therefore furnishes grain in the early summer when the supply of other grains is often depleted. It is grown extensively in Kansas, Missouri, and, to a lesser extent, in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and southern Nebraska.

Ward resembles Reno in type and hardiness. Like Reno, it was selected from a farmer's field. Ward was released in 1936 from the Southern Great Plains Field Station at Woodward, Okla., by V. C. Hubbard of the Department. It is adapted to the colder parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and the Texas Panhandle.

Woodwin is like Michigan Winter, Reno, and Ward, but is not so hardy. It was released in 1942 from Woodward. In a 9-year test at that station it yielded an average of 1 bushel more than Michigan Winter, the variety commonly grown in Oklahoma. It is not so hardy as Reno and Ward and is recommended for areas south and east of Woodward.

Along the Atlantic coast, selections from farmers' fields have resulted in two new varieties. Brier was selected by the West Virginia station from an unnamed variety of winter barley grown by Eugene Tuckwiller, a farmer in Greenbrier County. Brier was released by the West Virginia station in 1941. It yielded 8 percent more grain than several others in tests and for West Virginia as a whole its yield has been 2.5 percent greater. It is resistant to smut and mildew, but susceptible to leaf rust.

Randolph, a six-rowed rough-awned variety, was selected from a locally grown barley by G. K. Middleton of the North Carolina station. It was released to farmers in 1939. It is not tall, but because it makes a heavy fall growth if seeded early, it is valuable for fall grazing. It yields more than the hooded varieties but not so much as do other rough-awned sorts. Randolph matures early and is well suited as a companion crop to lespedeza. It is moderately resistant to covered smut and nigra loose smut but is susceptible to nuda loose smut. It is grown in North Carolina.

Wintex is a less winter-hardy kind selected from progeny of original seed brought to this country. It is a six-rowed, rough-awned variety, first distributed to Texas farmers in 1939. I. M. Atkins, of the Department, selected it from a field of barley on Will Smith's farm near Denton, Tex. It was grown on 50,000 acres in Texas in 1944, despite the fact that it had suffered severe damage by green bugs in 1942 and considerable damage from winterkilling in 1943. Wintex yields 9 to 10 bushels an acre more than Tennessee Winter. It is less winter hardy than Tennessee Winter, but sufficiently hardy in most years for the area in which it is recommended. It is used for grazing because of its broad leaves, abundant tillering, and more upright growth. It is suited to combine harvesting. Its principal faults are its susceptibility to diseases, especially mildew and Helminthosporium. Wintex is grown extensively in Texas, .in the Delta area of the Mississippi, and to a less extent in Arkansas.