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What is Barley used for? How much is planted in Ireland? What are the issues with growing barley in Ireland? GM barley Global distribution of GM barley What is Barley used for? Grain from the barley crop in Ireland is used for animal feed and, as a raw material in the malting and brewing industry. The straw component is used for animal bedding and to a limited extent as animal feed. Occasionally, barley may be harvested for whole-crop forage where the straw and grain are together ensiled for animal feed. The malting industry, so called because the barley is first converted to malt, is heavily dependent on barley for the production of beer and distilled alcohol. Over 90,000 tonnes of barley or almost 10% of the total Irish crop is used each year in the production of Guinness stout. In addition, Irish Distillers Ltd use a combination of malted and unmalted barley in their production process to produce 380 litres of pure alcohol per tonne of barley. At present, Ireland is 93% self sufficent in barley How much is planted in Ireland? Area cultivated under barley in 2006 was 167,000 hectares (see graph). Cultivated barley is an annual crop and is planted in Ireland as winter-sown (usually September) or as spring-sown crop (February - April) and harvested in late July (winter-sown) and mid to late August (spring-sown)  What are the issues with growing barley in Ireland? Cereal crops grown in Ireland generally have a high yield potential because of our climate, but this climate also presents challenges. The principle problems associated with growing barley are its susceptibility to fungal diseases (e.g. rhynchosporium (leaf scald), mildew, head blight and net blotch), weed control and the need to match fertiliser input with yield potential. Consequently, there is a high requirement for fungicide and fertiliser inputs and a necessity for high standards of management (i.e. expertise). The fungicide requirement may present particular difficulty for growers if future legislation restricts fungicide application Other management issues that arise in Ireland include: - Protein content of grain too low for animal feed
- Prone to premature sprouting in wet harvests
- Prone to fungal grain infection in wet seasons
- Prone to straw breakdown at harvest
- Susceptible to lodging in the field
GM barley Research to modify barley was optimised in the 1990s (Wan and Lemaux 1994; Funastsuki et al. 1995). Since then, and due to the global importance of barley as a cereal crop, active research is on-going to increase resistance to numerous pests and diseases and to improve grain quality Future aims for the genetic modification of barley will incorporate: - Enhanced digestibility of barley for use in animal feed
- Increased protein content of grains
- Increased nitrogen use efficiency
- Improved malt quality
The most beneficial modification to Irish barley growers at the moment would involve increased resistance to fungal plant diseases, particularly Rhynchosporium leaf scald and Fusarium head blight. Reduced fungal infection in barley would lead to a better grain quality (less mould damage), decreased potential for the fungi to produce harmful mycotoxins (i.e. toxic compounds produced by fungi) and reduced production costs. Occasionally, mycotoxin-producing fungi (e.g. Fusarium) can be present on crops in the field. In 2006, regulations outlining maximum levels of mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species in cereals came into force across the EU. The Eurpean Commission has also recommended that Member States should increase their monitoring for the presence of Fusarium mycotoxins in cereal and cereal products intended for animal feeding and compound feeding; recommended guidance values for some of these mycotoxins have been published. Crops with increased resistance to fungal diseases could potentially require less fungicide inputs, thus reducing the quantity of chemical residues on plants and in soils. Global distribution of GM barley There is no commercial cultivation of GM barley at present. Field trials in Germany are currently examining two different GM varieties. One variety produces an enzyme (chitinase) that can break down the cell walls of pathogenic fungi, and the other variety produces a modified enzyme (glucanase) that improves the quality of malt for beer making. Source: - CSO (2007). Crops and livestock survey - June 2006
- Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food (2007). Compendium of Irish agricultural statistics 2005. http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/index.jsp?file=publicat/compendium2005/home.xml. Accessed 15 Oct 2007
- www.gmo-compass.org
- Funatsuki et al. (1995). Fertile transgenic barley generated by direct DNA transfer to protoplast. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 91, 707-712
- Wan, Y. and Lemaux, P.G. (1994). Generation of large numbers of independently transformed fertile barley plants. Plant Physiology 104, 37-48
- Horvath et al. (2000). The production of recombinant proteins in transgenic barley grains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 97, 1914-1919
- Von Wettstein et al. (2003). Supplements of transgenic malt or grain containing (1,3-1,4)-B-glucanase increase the nutritive value of barley-based broiler diets to that of maize. British Poultry Science 44, 438-449
- European Commission (2005). Commission regulations (EC) No 856/2005 of 6 June 2005 amending regulation (EC) NO 466/2001 as regards Fusarium toxins. Official Journal of the European Commission L 143:3-8
European Commission (2006). Commission recommendation of 17 August 2006 on the presence of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, ochratoxin A, T-2 and HT-2 and fumonisins in products intended for animal feeding (2006/576/EC). Official Journal of the European Commission L 229:7-9
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