The Prairie Recommending Committee for Oats and Barley is reviewing malting barley lines including LOX-less types that reduce flavour staling in beer.
Beer drinkers may never think about the barley behind their pint — but new varieties now under review could help keep beer fresher for longer.
A new lineup of barley candidates being assessed by the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oats and Barley (PRCOB) at this week’s Prairie Grain Development Committee (PGDC) meeting in Banff, Alta., includes malting lines designed specifically to improve beer flavour stability.
One of the most notable is a LOX-less malting barley, a type that lacks the lipoxygenase enzyme linked to flavour deterioration in beer during storage.
“It’s a fresher flavour profile, improved flavour stability, because LOX-less lines have reduced staling during storage of beer,” said PRCOB chair Marta Izydorczyk. “So it ultimately extends the shelf life of a product. So this is quite exciting.”
For brewers, particularly those shipping beer long distances or exporting, that added stability can be critical to maintaining consistent flavour on store shelves.
The LOX-less candidate is part of a broader group of new malting barley lines being considered by PRCOB this year.
“We are looking at a broad range of new barley types, and this will kind of expand our portfolio of malting varieties,” Izydorczyk said.
Another candidate has been bred specifically for irrigated growing conditions.
“The advantage of this type of line is that usually they have higher yield potential, greater yield stability,” she explained. “They have kind of stronger response to nitrogen, and this all translates to good quality.”
Alongside these specialty types, three additional malting barley lines are also under review, each offering improvements over older varieties through higher yields, stronger standability and reduced lodging — traits that help ensure reliable supply for the malting and brewing industries.
While the beer-focused barley candidates may attract the most attention from brewers, PRCOB is also reviewing new food barley and oat lines with improved nutrition traits.
One particularly distinctive food barley candidate is a black hulless barley, which combines high beta glucan fibre with a dark aleurone layer.
“One is the high soluble fibre — high beta glucans — which are known for preventing heart diseases and for lowering cholesterol,” Izydorczyk said. “And the second is that colour. Black and purple barleys are known for having a higher content of antioxidants.”
Boosting Oat Yields
Oat candidates also show strong improvements. Six lines are under consideration, all with higher yield potential — something producers have been pushing breeders to prioritize.
“Over the years, the breeders were listening to the producers and producer groups,” she said. “The highlight for all of these lines is higher yield. They have at least eight to nine per cent higher yield compared to the checks.”
Several of those lines also bring improved nutritional traits, with beta glucan levels reaching as high as 6.5 per cent.
“That is significant,” Izydorczyk said, noting that AC Prairie — currently the most widely grown oat variety in Western Canada — contains less than 4.5 per cent beta glucan.
But even as promising new barley lines aimed at improving beer quality move through the recommendation system, Izydorczyk said the infrastructure needed to properly evaluate them is facing uncertainty.
“The rigour of the data that we are generating lies in the fact that we test in multiple locations,” she said. “Breeders need data from multiple locations. Reducing this number of locations — that is going to affect us.”
Multi-location testing is the backbone of Prairie variety recommendations, allowing researchers to confirm how new lines perform across diverse environments before they reach farmers — and eventually brewers.
Recent federal research station changes are raising concerns about how reliably that system can continue operating in the years ahead.
“In general, what we are facing right now puts trial continuity at risk,” Izydorczyk said.
One immediate concern is staffing. Even if facilities remain open temporarily, staff departures could disrupt trials before they reach completion.
“Staff departure may occur earlier than official closing dates, which would obviously affect data collection, harvest and processing of seeds,” she said.
Another key concern is disease testing capacity, particularly at the Lacombe research site, which hosts specialized nurseries used to evaluate disease resistance in barley.
“Those specialized nurseries cannot really be replicated elsewhere, at least not in the near future — if ever.”
