| Arable
Better barley is on the way:
crop genome unravelled
A ten-nation scientific consortium has reported the first
high-quality genome sequence of barley, a development
which will assist crop breeders in developing more
resilient barley varieties suited to the requirements of the
brewing, distilling, food and feed industries.
he UK team
behind the
research was led
by Professor
Robbie Waugh, of
Scotland’s James
Hutton Institute and the Division of
Plant Sciences at the University of
Dundee, who worked over a
decade with colleagues from the
International Barley Genome
Sequencing Consortium (IBSC),
Earlham Institute and the
European Bioinformatics Institute.
The genome sequence of a
crop reveals detailed information
on the location, structure and
function of its genes, useful
knowledge for the breeding
needed to boost crop
improvement. Featuring data on
more than 39,000 genes, the
barley genome is almost two times
larger than the human genome,
and 80 percent of it is composed
of highly complex repeat
structures. However, recent
advances in sequencing and
computational technology have
finally enabled scientists to unravel
the genome of barley.
T
Professor Waugh said: “Access
to the fully ordered genome
sequence assembly will streamline
efforts to improve barley
production through breeding for
varieties better able to withstand
pests and disease and deal with
adverse environmental conditions
such as drought and heat stress.
“Armed with this information,
breeders and scientists will be
much better placed to deal with
the challenge of effectively
addressing the food security
agenda under the constraints of a
rapidly changing environment.
“The genome provides a better
understanding of malting genes,
as well as the processes of
domestication, local adaptation
and modern breeding that have
been critical in shaping current
varieties.”
Dr Matt Clark, Head of
Technology Development at
Earlham Institute, added: “The
barley genome is much larger than
the human one, and more
complex. The tools and skills we
developed while working on the
challenging barley genome led to
this success, but they have also
helped us on smaller genomes
e.g. rice, and potatoes, and much
larger ones such as bread wheat
which is derived from the
hybridisation of 3 barley-like
genomes.”
Domesticated between 10,000
and 12,000 years ago in the
Middle East, barley has since
spread across all temperate
regions to become the world’s
fourth most important cereal crop,
both regarding area of cultivation
and in quantity of grain produced.
Barley grain yields have more than
doubled over the past 50 years,
with studies revealing more than
90% of this improvement can be
attributed to genetics.
Barley is the second most
important crop in UK agriculture,
and malting barley (some 30% of
the total) underpins the beer and
whisky sector, worth some £20
billion to the UK economy.
The IBSC was established in
2006 and includes scientists from
Germany, the United Kingdom,
China, Australia, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, Sweden,
Switzerland and the United States.
The genome sequence and
related resources are now
accessible to the scientific
community and private breeding
companies for genetic analyses.
Shropshire potato grower joins AHDB Farm
Excellence Platform
Shropshire-based Heal Farms has become the latest addition to AHDB’s Strategic Potato (SPot) Farm family.
he arable and
poultry farm
estate, which
grows around 500
hectares of
potatoes each
year, will become the new home of
SPot Farm West.
It will host a series of farm walks
and open days, the first of which
will be held on 6 June. There will
also be a results day at the end of
the year.
AHDB Strategic Farms harness
the proven benefits of ‘farmer to
farmer’ learning to accelerate the
uptake of knowledge. They
provide a platform for farmers to
explore the potential for new
technology and best practice to
have an impact on their business,
giving them the confidence to
implement new ideas on their own
farms.
Anne Stone, Knowledge
T
Exchange Manager for AHDB
Potatoes, who leads the SPot
Farm West project, said: “Each
farm has its own environment and
challenges, so it is exciting to have
an opportunity to see how effective
the latest technology is when
applied on Heal Farms’ Shropshire
soils.”
Farms Director at Heal Farms,
Matthew Wallace, said: “As a
business, we are interested in
improving productivity and the
SPot Farm programme provides
us with an opportunity to do that.
As well as working alongside
researchers and experts, it will be
interesting to hear about the
approach taken by other growers
in the West at the open days and
farm wa