Never again barley yellow dwarf virus: the first resistant multi-rowed winter barley approved for the German Market
Date: 11.07.2019
Barley yellow dwarf virus has spread all over the world and is one of the viruses with the most economically devastating effects in cereal-growing. Until now it could be countered only by chemical methods or limited agricultural measures. Now Deutsche Saatveredelung AG (DSV) has brought the first resistant multi-rowed winter barley with German approval from its in-house breeding programme on to the German market.
 
Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) is one of the most widespread plant viruses. In the past few years the infection has increasingly caused damage in practical barley-growing. By the autumn aphids are already spreading the virus. The variation in infestation from region to region is strongly marked, but it always results in considerable damage to stocks (dwarfism), even necessitating costly total loss of the land and the re-sowing of an alternative crop. As well as barley all the other sweet grasses, such as oats, wheat, triticale, rye and maize are also host plants, as are grass species, such as rye-grasses.

Control hitherto only limited and possible at great cost

Currently, the control of BYDV in practice relies mainly on chemical control of the virus vectors. Supplementary agricultural measures are the targeted control of volunteer grain as a possible source of the virus, together with later dates for sowing in the autumn, in order to prevent a high infection load on the seedlings and young plants. However, phytosanitary measures and strategies within production technology are in some cases not always completely successful on meteorological grounds or even for reasons of business management.
Since seed treatment is no longer permitted in Germany, the current method for protecting the crop from aphids is repeated pest control measures throughout the warm weeks of autumn. This can make the wallet lighter to the tune of several euros and in some cases does not give a reliable result, since the vector arrives sooner or later than anticipated.

New in Germany: PARADIES, resistant multi-rowed (mr) winter barley

PARADIES is the first approved variety of multi-rowed winter barley with resistance to barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV resistance) in Germany. It has been developed in the DSV cereal breeding programme in Leutewitz. PARADIES provides a risk-free, cost-effective means of cultivating winter barley with earlier sowing dates and mild autumns when the aphids are on the wing.

"Breeding for resistance is the basis for plant protection strategies of the future," is the opinion of Dr. Jens Vaupel, the DSV breeder. "It contributes to ensuring sustainable, environmentally-friendly, consumer-friendly plant production. PARADIES is merely the starting point for an entire portfolio of resistant varieties, which safeguard yields. There are other solutions in the pipe line, such as a variety with a combination of BYDV and yellow mosaic virus resistance.

DSV claims that PARADIES is characterised at the medium growth stage by average stability and ripening. It is one of the healthiest varieties of winter barley. With APS 3 for rust caused by Puccinia simplex it has also been assigned the best classification in the multi-rowed segment and also exhibits a high resistance to mildew (APS 3). It has been not been assigned any official classification for Ramularia and undefined leaf spot; however, plant appraisals indicate that there is also good resistance to these problems. In terms of yield PARADIES demonstrates high untreated yields, which once more emphasises its good resistance to disease. As a grain density type it also exhibits higher numbers of grains per ear for average thousand-grain weights (TGW). The yield potential for treated PARADIES is medium to high.

The variety is also available in Austria.

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