Lab searches for fungus-free barley

Fusarium, a fungus, is decimating barley crops in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota.

November 18, 1999
Web posted at: 12:00 p.m. EST (1700 GMT)

The heart of America's malting barley industry — the Red River Valley in North Dakota and Minnesota — is threatened by a fungus that may render the region unsuitable for growing the crop responsible for beer.

"There is a big problem with Fusarium," said Berne Jones, a research chemist at the Agricultural Research Service's Barley and Malt Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "They may not be able to grow malting barely in that area."

Jones and his colleagues at the laboratory spend much of their time in search of malting barley varieties that are resistant to the fungus, which produces a compound called "vomitoxin." When it shows up in a bottle of beer it causes the beer to shoot out all over the floor when opened.

Brewers won't use barley varieties that contain the fungus, said Jones, and so there is a lot of pressure on the lab to develop varieties that are resistant to the fungus.

Most of that work entails finding barley varieties from regions of the world where Fusarium has always existed, such as in Asia, and thus have developed a natural resistance to the fungus. Once found, those varieties are bred to meet the needs of American brewers.

The laboratory will get the first such lines to test this year, said Jones. Molecular biologists are also just beginning experiments with genetic modification of barley strains to make them resistant to the fungus, but no genetically modified strains are anywhere near market ready.

The Barley and Malt Laboratory tests about 4,700 varieties of barley each year. They look at every conceivable quality variable, such as weight, kernel size, color, clarity of malt, protein and starch and enzyme content.

Once the tests are completed, the lab writes up a report and sends it to the beer industry. The report contains around 25 varieties that are worthy of further testing. In the end, two or three varieties are chosen by the industry to make their beer.

Once the industry has selected the varieties they need to make their beer, the fields are planted. Nearly 5 million acres of malting barley will be harvested in the United States in 1999.

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