Registration of ‘GemCraft’ spring malting barley cultivar

Abstract

‘GemCraft’ (Reg. no CV-379, PI 701910), is a two-rowed spring malt barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) developed by the USDA-ARS, Aberdeen, ID, in cooperation with the University of Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, in 2023. The release is derived from the cross of 2B98-5312/98Ab11993 and was advanced through the bulk pedigree method F₁–F₅. GemCraft has been tested at the USDA-ARS, and all other cooperative trials, as line 2Ab08-X05M010-65. This cultivar has been tested across 32 location years under irrigated conditions and 13 location years in dryland conditions. GemCraft has shown similar yield to the current malting barley cultivar checks Voyager, Merit 57, M69, Conrad, and AC Metcalfe but has higher yield potential than ‘CDC Copeland’, M69, and ‘Harrington’ under irrigated conditions. In dryland trials, GemCraft has similar yield to the checks of Voyager and Conrad but higher yield than other checks. Malting quality evaluation results showed GemCraft has high extract, low protein, and competent values in other traits. All the evaluations suggested that GemCraft would be a good choice as a malting cultivar for craft brewers.