Assessment of Winter Barley in Minnesota: Relationships among Cultivar, Fall Seeding Date, Winter Survival, and Grain Yield

Winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is currently being developed as a new cash crop with potential to provide both economic and environmental benefits in Minnesota. In a field experiment, three winter barley cultivars that exhibited different levels of winter hardiness were sown at four planting dates (early September to mid-October with a similar to 2-week interval between each planting date) in St. Paul from 2010-2013 and 2015-2018 and in Lamberton from 2015-2019. Fall growing degree days (GDD), winter snow coverage, winter survival, and grain yield were evaluated across 10 site-years. Only 50% of siteyears had a winter survival at 20% or greater when averaged across all planting dates and cultivars. No specific planting date consistently resulted in maximum winter survival. McGregor, a non-malting barley, had the highest winter survival and yield. Planting dates that resulted in fall-accumulated GDD from 600 to 1400 were associated with better winter survival in years with sufficient snow cover. Less than 4 inches of snow cover and temperatures at or below -4 degrees F for more than 3 days led to poor winter survival in 5 of the 10 site-years. Continued breeding for improved winter hardiness and agronomic research that provides best management practices will be needed to develop a practical winter barley cropping system for Minnesota.