ENSURING THAT a load of barley is the correct variety will be faster and easier with the launch of a new interactive web-based identification programme.

‘Barley-id’ has been developed by NIAB and is available as a subscription service to anyone involved in the transport, trading, marketing and processing of barley where varietal identity is essential. It will also be used as a training tool in NIAB’s grain ID workshops and courses.

NIAB technical manager and programme developer, Tony Chapman, says that ‘Barley-id’ will underpin a user’s own skills and knowledge. “Staff in labs and grain stores currently rely on a paper-based detailed identification process across four or five different sheets of paper, with variable skill levels in recognising the grain characters that identify a variety,” he says.

‘Barley-id’currently covers 54 spring and winter barley varieties, including everything on the HGCA Recommended List, and some National List and Common Catalogue varieties. The programme will be updated as soon as new varieties come onto the market.”