September 4, 2003

 

Malt Blends to Now Include Drummond

Anheuser-Bush Inc. and the Miller Brewing Company will now include Drummond barley in their malt blends for brewing. Anheuser-Bush recently completed its plant-scale evaluation of the six-row barley variety and found it satisfactory. Miller Brewing completed similar tests earlier.

North Dakota State University six-row barley breeder, Richard Horsley, developed Drummond. It was released in 2000 through the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station at NDSU. Horsley developed Drummond from a cross he made that involved two North Dakota experimental lines and Stander, a variety from the University of Minnesota.

Drummond is named in honor of Bill Drummond, the first executive director of the North Dakota Barely Council. During his career, Drummond also worked as an agronomist for the Malting Barley Improvement Association and as an agent for the NDSU Extension Service.

According to data gathered by Horsley, Drummond has a greater yield potential than Robust but is similar in heading date and plant height. Robust has been the top planted barley variety 18 out of the last 19 years. In statewide trials, Drummond has outperformed Robust, on average, by more than 2 bushels per acre, Horsley says. "The economic impact of planting Drummond, especially for malting, could be substantial for barley growers."

Drummond has a greater degree of straw strength than any commercially available six-rowed variety. It is resistant to spot blotch and is similar to Robust in its resistance to Fusarium head blight (scab).

North Dakota continues to rank first in barley planted acreage in the United States, with 38.5 percent of the nation’s total. Planted acres in North Dakota were 2.1 million in 2003, up from 1.6 million in 2002, according to the North Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service.

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Source: Rich Horsley, (701) 231-8142, richard.horsley@ndsu.nodak.edu
North Dakota Barley Council, (701) 239-7200, Melissa.Schwengler@ndbarley.net
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu