Barley best to sweeten your soil.

And it's not just for making beer and scotch whiskey - good food, too.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/grains/barley/growing-malted-barley.htm

It has been awhile since I reported on plant science progress, and lately barley is a featured crop in the news. In my past newsletter, I described the history of European beer brewing which lead to the selection of barley as the predominant source for the grain.

July 4 BBQ: a Beer Belly can be good. Enjoy some brewskis with your brats.“Beginning in the early 1500s, German law limited the ingredients to barley, hops, yeast, and water. Reasons for this went beyond taste preferences. By prohibiting the use of wheat, more wheat was available to bake bread. By restricting the allowed ingredients, various other types of beer were pushed into obscurity and could no longer compete with the large breweries. The law effectively got rid of international competition as it formed a protective barrier to the importation of any foreign beer that used other ingredients. These restrictions would eventually influence the international production of beer, as brewers in neighboring countries conformed to the restrictions so that they could compete within the large German market.”

Barley is also one of the three ingredients used in the production of Scotch whisky. And in Scotland, 90% of the crop goes into making their namesake liquor. So agriscience research funding focuses on this cash crop.

Sweet Root Symbiosis

Soil microbiome experimentation is blooming around the root microculture, called the ‘rhizosphere’. Comparisons were made between the old traditional and modern selected strains of barley as to how they attract growth-promoting bacteria. Specifically, researchers studied Chevallier, an English landrace cultivar first selected in the 1820s before breeding programs were established, and Tipple, a modern cultivar released in 2004 by Syngenta Seeds. [hmmm … tipple: transitive verb To drink, as strong liquors, frequently or in excess.]

Plant-associated microbes play vital roles in promoting growth and health, with plants secreting root exudates into the rhizosphere to attract beneficial microbes. Exudate composition defines the nature of microbial recruitment, with different plant species attracting distinct microbiota to enable optimal adaptation to the soil environment. To more closely examine the relationship between plant genotype and microbial recruitment, we analysed the rhizosphere microbiomes of landrace (Chevallier) and modern (NFC Tipple) barley (Hordeum vulgare) cultivars. Distinct differences were observed between the plant-associated microbiomes of the 2 cultivars, with the plant-growth promoting rhizobacterial genus Pseudomonas substantially more abundant in the Tipple rhizosphere. Striking differences were also observed between the phenotypes of recruited Pseudomonas populations, alongside distinct genotypic clustering by cultivar. Cultivar-driven Pseudomonas selection was driven by root exudate composition, with the greater abundance of hexose sugars secreted from Tipple roots attracting microbes better adapted to growth on these metabolites and vice versa. Cultivar-driven selection also operates at the molecular level, with both gene expression and the abundance of ecologically relevant loci differing between Tipple and Chevallier Pseudomonas isolates. Finally, cultivar-driven selection is important for plant health, with both cultivars showing a distinct preference for microbes selected by their genetic siblings in rhizosphere transplantation assays. - A Pacheco-Moreno, et al.

https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/2021-north-american-barley-crop-report/

Weathering Limited Rain

A recent project studied the plant genome, searching for traits resistant to drought stress. Researchers revealed that the gene HvMYB1 controls stress tolerance in cereals such as barley. They found that they could also transfer the genes to other grains, such as wheat, rice and maize, enhancing their chances for survival.

Good Food Benefits

Plenty of good victuals are derived from barley pearls. It thickens soups, stews, and risotto, and joins with other grains to produce meaty breads.

https://myhealthonly.net/barley-health-benefits/

Barley Water is an old traditional medicinal made in most apothecary kitchens. A popular summer drink, too.

How to Make

Barley water is generally mixed with lemon, sugar or rock salt to quench our thirst. Barley can also be consumed as it is or mixed with fruit juices and relished. - https://stylenrich.com/barley-water-benefits/

Ingredients-

• ¼ cup pearl barley

• 3 cups of water

• Rock salt or sugar or salt

• Lime juice

Method-

Wash and soak barley for few hours. Pressure barley for 5 to 6 whistles or boil barley in water till it becomes soft and mashy. Cool the barley water very well, strain, you can add a dash of lemon juice and rock salt.

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REFERENCES

A Pacheco-Moreno, et al. (2024) The genotype of barley cultivars influences multiple aspects of their associated microbiota via differential root exudate secretion. PLoS Biol 22(4): e3002232. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002232

Future proofing cereals for drought conditions. 2 Sep 2019 https://www.hw.ac.uk/news/articles/2019/Barley.htm

Traditional Old English Royal Barley Water Recipe https://hedgecombers.com/wprm_print/16795.