Registration of ‘Lowe’, a Two-Rowed Malting Barley with Enhanced Resistance to Fusarium Head Blight

Fusarium head blight (FHB) challenges the malting and brewing industry due to the presence of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) in infected grain. New barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars must have improved resistance while still providing producers with robust, high yield. 'Lowe' (Reg. no. CV-369, PI 689750; Canadian Food Inspection Agency Reg. no. 8132; Canadian PBR Cert. No. 5884) is a two-rowed, hulled, spring barley developed for malting use, especially for the craft brewing industry. Lowe has a high level of resistance to FHB, accumulating 50% less DON than 'AC Metcalfe', with levels similar to the most-resistant check, 'Chevron'. Lowe was created using a modified bulk breeding method with the headrow that produced Lowe derived from a F-6 population. It was tested as TR13609 in trials managed by the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oat and Barley from 2013 to 2015. Lowe outyielded the malting checks AC Metcalfe and 'CDC Copeland' in 2 yr of agronomic evaluation. It is a tall cultivar with better lodging resistance than the malting checks. Lowe matures 3 d later than the malting checks. Lowe has excellent properties for malting and brewing, with low protein, high extract, and low beta-glucan concentrations in the wort. Lowe is resistant to surface-borne and loose smuts and moderately resistant to scald, spot form of net blotch, and FHB. Lowe combines excellent agronomic, disease, and malting attributes suitable for all-malt brewing that will make it suitable for production on the northern Great Plains.