b'A YEAR OF FIRSTSThe Prairie Grain Development Committee marked some major milestones in 2021, including the first durum with intermediate FHB resistance. Marc ZienkiewiczWHILE REFERENCE GENOMEwork in barley has been happeningfor registration a new suite of lines that could become the next at the international level for the past decade, it wasnt until 2019generation of pulse and cereal crops in Canada.that this research was carried out in Canada. In less than a year (an extremely short period of time inDecoding Barleythis field of study), the Canadian team was able to sequenceThe research work to decode the barley genome is a first of and assemble the first reference genome of a Canadian barleyits kind in barley in Canada and is part of the five-year project cultivarAAC Synergy. Targeted and Useful Genomics for Barley and Oat, also known Assembling big genomes like the barley genomewhichas TUGBOAT.is almost twice the human genomes sizeisnt easy, saysSince AAC Synergy is a high-yielding malting barley, traits Ana Badea, barley breeder at the Agriculture and Agri-Foodsuch as yield and malt quality will be investigated. For exam-Canada (AAFC) Brandon Research and Development Centre inple, enabling Canadian breeders to have the ability to make Manitoba.selections for malting quality at early stages in the breeding Since weve just completed putting together the puzzleprogram could significantly increase the chances that good pieces or building blocks of the AAC Synergy genome, weremalting breeding lines will enter the Western Cooperative now about to embark on the second part of our endeavour,Barley Registration Test and Collaborative Malting Barley which is exploring its gene content.Trial, Badea said. Milestones like this were on the minds of many atShe notes that in Western Canada, for a new this years meeting of the Prairie Grain Developmentbarley variety to be designated as a malting vari-Committee (PGDC) in February which, like just aboutety, rigorous test criteria must be met. every other agriculture event over the past 12 months,This new resource will enable breeders to took place virtually. control the breeding process better and increase Despite happening via Zoom and being paredthe development of improved varieties to ben-back a bit (there was no plenary session this year),efit Canadian farmers and end-users.the group once again got together to put forwardThat, of course, is what PGDC Yuefeng Ruans DT2009 is the first durum line with intermediate resistance to fusarium head blight (FHB).4GERMINATION.CAINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2021'