Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Public outreach efforts for naked organic barley included speaking at organic agriculture and grain-related conferences, workshops, and events. Such events have allowed us to engage a diverse audience about the potential use of naked organic barley. Producers/growers End-users Grain retailers and wholesalers Processors Millers Brewers Distillers Maltsters Animal feed suppliers and feed mills Chefs Bakers Students K-12 students Undergrad and graduate students Urban agriculture students Academic and industry researchers Organic organizations General Public Instagram viewers (1109 followers, 159 posts on @nakedbarley) Consumers and farmers-market shoppers Business owners Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Attendance at conferences where grant participants have discussed their work with organic naked barley has allowed for development of professional networks and regular input regarding the breeding goals for naked organic barley. Discussion of ideas and challenges at these conferences and events has provided training in how the goals and execution of the project should go forward. The graduate students have had many opportunities for professional development and training. They have learned many technical skills regarding experimental design, field work, plant pathology, disease resistance, data analysis, food science, weed management practices, public speaking, as well as a good sense of what working in academia is like. Attendance at meetings, field days and other activities have provided many opportunities to learn new ideas and points of view. Field related activities also provide the chance to learn many hands-on skills including field and plot management. Also, graduate students funded by this grant learned technical and academic skills to which they would not have otherwise been exposed. Gopika Gopinathan and Siim Sepp (Plant Breeding graduate students) and Sydney Baumgardner (Food Science graduate student) have had the opportunity to develop data analysis, presentation, and writing skills. They have had the opportunity to learn and work with different genomic methods in plant breeding including GWAS and genomic selection. Additionally, from interactions at field days or conferences, they have begun to develop valuable networks with researchers and farmers. Through presenting research proposals and results at various functions, they have improved their speaking ability and have been members of professional scientific societies including the National Association of Plant Breeders, Craft Maltsters Guild, and the Crop Science Society of America. Brigid Meints has had the opportunity to mentor all the graduate students funded by this grant. This project has provided her with training in project management, organizing events, malting, disease inoculation, and new data analysis techniques. Additionally, attendance and presenting at the OREI PD meetings have given her exposure to other experts in the field to learn from and instigate collaborations. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Details of the project have been disseminated through email, personal correspondence and communication, conferences, social media, and websites. UW-Madison, Cornell, UC Davis, OSU, and UMN all hosted in-person field days with hundreds of participants, including farmers, processors, organic industry representatives, students, other researchers, and the general public. At field day events, chefs and bakers prepared barley dishes for participants to taste. The Culinary Breeding Network and Glynwood organized the 2023 Variety Showcase, which brought in hundreds of attendees. Andrew Ross and Sydney Baumgardner made barley tortilla chips, Jordyn Bunting made a barley and bean succotash, and a New York baker, Nora Allen, made pumpkin and apple galettes with a barley flour crust. All the dishes were served while educating the general public about naked barley. Social media postings on Instagram allow researchers to share project updates and photos with thousands of followers between @nakedbarley, @culinarybreedingnetwork, @eorganicofficial, and @glynwoodorg. Each of the breeding programs have uploaded phenotypic data from the regional trials and diversity panels to the T3 (Triticeae Toolbox: https://triticeaetoolbox.org/barley/) database. These data can be accessed by other breeding programs and researchers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Scholarship Submit publications to eOrganic and scientific journals about projects: Weed competitive ability in naked barley Brewing trials Malting research Smut and FHB inoculation studies Nixtamalization of naked barley Education Work with teachers at the local schools to implement previously developed lesson plans. Work with teachers at the local schools to find ways to involve students in the naked barley project. Outreach Continue to educate our target audience through workshops and conferences- either in-person or virtual (Variety Showcase, MarbleSeed, Organic Seed Growers Conference, Organicology Craft Malt Conference, North American Barley Researchers Workshop). Gather and provide information on research and opportunities for growers, processors, bakers, and brewers to gain access to naked barley. Conduct expanded outreach to professionals in the craft beverage and culinary sectors. Host field days and other outreach events to increase community involvement and awareness. Research Advance the NAM population to further assess naked barley germplasm and gather more data on traits determined to be important for its production. Conduct loose smut inoculation trials on the diversity panel in the greenhouse at OSU. Conduct covered smut inoculation trial on a subset of the NAM breeding population. Conduct controlled PHS and dormancy screening for the NAM breeding population Conduct brewing trials with the OSU Fermentation Science program. Consider variety release of MS10S4111-01, Purple Prince, and other advanced germplasm.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In the first year of this project, participants grew out a new set of advanced naked barley breeding to assess for inclusion in the regional trials, completed the final cycle of speed breeding in the greenhouse for the NAM, and then put those lines out in the field for the first time. This involved growing ~1500 naked barley lines (~100 fixed lines including released varieties and advanced breeding lines, and ~1400 mid-generation breeding lines in 61 families for the NAM) in certified organic trials across the country. Advanced lines were characterized for agronomic traits, food and malt quality traits, weed competitive ability, and resistance to abiotic and biotic stressors. Mid-generation material was screened for growth habit, row type, color, and vigor. Hundreds of growers, processors, and consumers have been provided with trial results and information about naked organic barley at conferences, field days, through personal communication, website postings, and social media. Goal 1: The value of naked barley as a new potential crop was described to stakeholders through a variety of mechanisms. Brigid Meints compiled and presented data on the naked malting and brewing trials to several hundred stakeholders at three different events, including an eOrganic webinar that is available on YouTube. Andrew Ross and MS student Sydney began working on a nixtamalization and tortilla making study with four varieties of naked barley in order to understand the functionality and nutrition of a novel product made with naked barley that could be of interest to the public. This study will continue and the results will be published when finished. Siim Sepp presented Cornell small grains research at Empire State Barley and Malt Summit 2023 on 12th Dec 2023, informing local maltsters, farmers and brewers about the naked barley breeding and research in NY. Goal 2: For the 2023-24 growing season, we grew out a new set of advanced experimental breeding lines and released varieties in the fall and spring to assess for inclusion in the regional trials. For the fall trial, 40 advanced naked barley lines were tested in double-rows at 8 sites in five states: Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, and New York. For the spring trial, 30 naked barley entries were tested at 6 sites in the same five states. Genotypes were assessed for grain yield, test weight, plant height, heading date, disease resistance, winter survivability and weed competitive ability. From each of the fall and spring trials, 18 entries were selected to be grown in replicated trials at all locations starting with the 2024-25 growing season until the end of this project. At UW-Madison, speed breeding and early harvest experiment was conducted on naked barley lines, results are being prepared for publication. Goal 3: At OSU, inoculation studies for covered smut (incited by Ustilago hordei) were completed on the diversity panel and race typing is underway. Data is being analyzed and prepared for publication. Inoculation studies for loose smut (incited by Ustilago nuda) are underway on the panel. At UW-Madison, in spring 2024 covered smut screening in naked barley lines was conducted in speed breeding conditions, data analysis is underway. In fall 2024, covered smut screening with a larger number of plants is being conducted in normal greenhouse conditions for protocol development. Goal 4: Development of the modified NAM population continued. The final cycle of speed breeding was completed in the greenhouse at UMN and UW-Madison. This resulted in a population of 1371 mid-generation breeding lines from 61 families. The seed from the greenhouse advance was threshed and planted in single rows under organic conditions in Corvallis in May 2024 to make selections and increase seed. Notes were taken on emergence, row type, head color, and vigor. The population was selected down to 430 entries, harvested and threshed. The best 400 entries will be increased in Davis and used for experiments with covered smut in Madison and pre-harvest sprouting in Ithaca in 2025.The parents of the NAM population were pre-screened for PHS resistance in New York 2024, in preparation of the NAM large-scale screening for the upcoming year. Goal 5: Brigid Meints presented to a group of teachers interested in agriculture in the classroom who were interested in in-person classroom visits in the upcoming school year. The Oregon Naked Barley Blend has been distributed to teachers and dozens of pounds of the blend have been distributed to interested home gardeners around the country for planting and selection. Efforts began to set up a platform for the blend on SeedLinked to track distribution and hear how recipients are engaging with the blend. Additionally, Meints began working with the Oregon Farm to School network and Oregon Ag in the Classroom to plan for further distribution of the blend in classrooms in 2025 and 2026. Goal 6: Brigid Meints and the Artisan Grains Collaborative worked together to conduct a virtual baking test with 14 bakers in the Upper Midwest. Bakers were provided with organic naked barley flour and flakes, which they used to prepare cookies and a sourdough porridge bread. They were instructed to document their process and then everyone came together to discuss their experience. This pilot experience had a very positive response- both in terms of the virtual test itself, as well as the naked barley. These tests will be repeated in other regions in future years. Goal 7: Details of the project have been disseminated through email, personal correspondence and communication, in-person field days, social media, conferences, and websites. The eOrganic website is updated to reflect progress of the project and contains bulletins, publications, webinars, and social media accounts. Brigid Meints presented about the naked malting and brewing workshop in an eOrganic webinar, at the International Women's Craft Fermentation Summit, and at the Craft Malt Conference. Meints presented about the structure of the diversity panel and her research on covered smut at the Barley Mutant Conference in Kurashiki, Japan. Meints also gave a flash presentation and presented a poster at the OREI PD Meeting in Orlando, FL. Participants at OSU, UMN, UW-Madison, Cornell, and UC Davis all hosted field days and interacted with hundreds of growers and other stakeholders at these events. All project participants participated in the Variety Showcase held at Glynwood in Cold Spring, NY in October 2023. Andrew Ross and Sydney Baumgardner made barley tortilla chips, Jordyn Bunting made a barley and bean succotash, and a New York baker, Nora Allen, made pumpkin and apple galettes with a barley flour crust. All the dishes were served while educating the general public about naked barley.

Publications