Many Chouteau County producers research their winter wheat varieties in the spring and their spring crop varieties in the Fall. As a result, it is time to let producers know about a new malt barley called Buzz.
Malt Barley is generally rejected when seed is not plump and/or protein is too high. Hockett, a malt barley released by MSU, generally has stable plumps and good yield under dryland conditions. However, grain protein can be too high. Hockett is also slow to germinate, complicating the malting process. The malt quality of Hockett is also not stable, often with high beta glucans, which can complicate brewing.
Buzz is a daughter of Hockett. One line of the breeding of Buzz is ND7293 which is a cross between Bearpaw and Hockett. The other line is LK644, which is a cross between Lewis and Karl. Buzz was named to honor Buzz Mattelin, who is a barley grower and long-time supporter of barley in Montana. Buzz has the positive attributes of Hockett including stable plumps and good yields under dryland conditions. Buzz is an improvement on Hockett with lower proteins and with improved malt quality stability across environments. Buzz has two genes that make grain-fill longer. Longer grain-fill means more starch, lowering protein in all environments.
Information for this article was taken from Jamie Sherman (MSU Barley Breeder). The entire document is available at the Chouteau County Extension office, which is located in the green building behind the Chouteau County Courthouse.
Montana State University U.S. Department of Agriculture and Montana Counties Cooperating. MSU Extension is an equal opportunity/affirmative action provider of educational outreach.
