A sample of Kiwi barley prior to malting. Photo: Malteurop Australia

BARLEY Australia has accredited two new varieties, Bottler and Kiwi, as malting varieties following evaluation trials conducted in association with the Malting and Brewing Industry Barley Technical Committee.

Bottler and Kiwi were submitted by GrainSearch and Malteurop Australia respectively.

Bottler is a medium-rainfall, mid season-maturity variety with high fermentability, and well suited to the export market.

Bottler is suited to environments where RGT Planet and Westminster are grown, and seed is available for planting this year via Seednet.

Malt grain production of Bottler will be supported by Barrett Burston Malting in selected regions.

Kiwi is a high-rainfall variety submitted as being of medium fermentability, but its performance appears to be best suited to the high-fermentability category.

Kiwi is therefore well suited to both the domestic and export markets.

Kiwi is intended to be grown largely in Victoria in the same environments as Westminster and Fairview.

As with all previous accreditations, it is the market that will determine the success of these new varieties.

The Barley Australia malting barley evaluation and accreditation process is recognised as the required standard for the determination of malting barley for all new Australian malting barley varieties.

Source: Barley Australia