Agriculture and Agri Food Canada (AAFC) has led the first project to sequence a Canadian malting barley variety, as part of an international collaboration on sequencing barley genome that began in 2006. This sequencing was focused on the Canadian variety, AAC Synergy with work dating back to 2019. The international initiative is part of a larger project that looks at both barley and oats.
Merredin Research Station found, by accident, fresh water coming from rain in WA state is not that fresh as it contains small amounts of salt. In time, and specially in dry years, this trace salt could have detrimental impacts on crops. In order to counter the salt’s impact, the research team concluded low rates of gypsum, added to such soil affected by transient salinity could increase barley yields by up to 28%.