b'A YEAR OF FIRSTSThe Prairie Grain Development Committee marked some major milestones in 2021, including the first durum with intermediate FHB resistance. Marc ZienkiewiczWHILE REFERENCE GENOMEwork in barley has been happen- Decoding Barleying at the international level for the past decade, it wasntThe research work to decode the barley genome is a first until 2019 that this research was carried out in Canada.of its kind in barley in Canada and is part of the five-year In less than a year (an extremely short period of timeproject Targeted and Useful Genomics for Barley and Oat, in this field of study), the Canadian team was able toalso known as TUGBOAT.sequence and assemble the first reference genome of aSince AAC Synergy is a high-yielding malting barley, Canadian barley cultivarAAC Synergy. traits such as yield and malt quality will be investigated. Assembling big genomes like the barley genome For example, enabling Canadian breeders to have the abil-which is almost twice the human genomes sizeisntity to make selections for malting quality at early stages easy, says Ana Badea, barley breeder at the Agriculturein the breeding program could significantly increase and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Brandon Research andthe chances that good malting breeding lines will enter Development Centre in Manitoba.the Western Cooperative Barley Registration Test and Since weve just completed putting together theCollaborative Malting Barley Trial, Badea said. puzzle pieces or building blocks of the AAC SynergyShe notes that in Western Canada, for a new barley genome, were now about to embark on the second partvariety to be designated as a malting variety, rigorous test of our endeavour, which is exploring its gene content.criteria must be met. Milestones like this were on the minds of many atThis new resource will enable breeders to control the this years meeting of the Prairie Grain Developmentbreeding process better and increase the development of Committee (PGDC) in February which, like just aboutimproved varieties to benefit Canadian farmers and end-users.every other agriculture event over the past 12 months,That, of course, is what PGDC is all about. In total, the took place virtually. Prairie Recommending Committee for Oat and Despite happening via Zoom and being paredBarley (PRCOB) looked at 12 lines this year back a bit (there was no plenary session this three oats and nine barleys. Of the oat year), the group once again got together to putlines two were supported for registration, forward for registration a new suite of lineswhile eight of nine barley candidates were that could become the next generation ofsupported.pulse and cereal crops in Canada. While the pandemic did challenge breeders, PRCOB chair Kelly Turkington Yuefeng Ruans DT2009 is the first durum line with intermediate resistance to fusarium head blight (FHB).36GERMINATION.CAMARCH 2021'