A NEW malt-potential barley variety is being launched this spring, with seed crops currently being grown with Seednet Partners in Northern NSW, Central NSW, Southern NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

Spinnaker is a conventional spring-type barley. Its maritime-themed name is important to note because Spinnaker barley is not an Imi-tolerant variety, and its name is not associated with the crop chemical Spinnaker.

Being a conventional barley variety is a positive feature for Spinnaker because chemical residues are become an increasing issue for end-users, and there is less and less conventional barley being produced in Australia.

Another end-user benefit with Spinnaker barley is its low requirement for the plant hormone Gibberellic Acid (GA) for malting.

GA is often used to assist germination in the malting process and although it is totally safe for human consumption, some brewers prefer less inputs to be used in the production of their beer.

In the paddock, Spinnaker is a quick-maturing, high-yielding barley variety broadly adapted to medium and low-rainfall barley-growing regions.

It has excellent physical grain quality with high retention, high test weight and low screenings.

In terms of plant type, Spinnaker has the same good vigour and competitive nature as RGT Planet, but Spinnaker is earlier to heading and shorter at maturity.

Its disease resistance profile is very similar to RGT Planet with Resistance to Powdery mildew and Moderate Resistance/Moderate Susceptibility to Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus and Black point, but it is rated Moderately Susceptible to Susceptible for Leaf rust and Moderately Susceptible to Susceptible/Very Susceptible for Net blotches.

Spinnaker was bred by Amanda Box who was previously a barley breeder at the University of Adelaide and is now breeder and manager of SECOBRA Research in Australia.

SECOBRA is a specialist barley breeding organisation based in France with over 120 years of experience breeding and commercialising barley varieties for its global malting and brewing shareholders.

SECOBRA began breeding operations in Australia in 2017 with the aim to provide Australian growers with high-quality malt barley varieties to supply our domestic and export customers.

The breeding process for Spinnaker involved a complex three-way cross combining hardy Australian adaptation and physical grain size with European malt quality.

Its pedigree includes the commercial varieties Fathom and RGT Planet, plus a high malt-quality SECOBRA breeding line.

As its pedigree suggests, Spinnaker has been bred for malting and brewing and is currently in Stage 1 of evaluation.

There are three malting and brewing evaluation crops in production across South East Australia this year that are planned to be malted by Malteurop in Victoria and Coopers in South Australia next year.

Breeder analysis to date has found that Spinnaker has very good malt attributes and a high probability of achieving malt quality when it becomes accredited.

Spinnaker has been included in National Variety Trial testing since 2021, so growers and agronomists are encouraged to check their local site results for past performance of the variety.

Technical information for Spinnaker including Trial Yield data, Disease Resistance ratings and Grain Quality data is available on the website of commercial partner Seednet.

Source: Seednet. Spinnaker barley seed will be widely available for growers in 2025 – from Seednet Partners across Australia.