Technology Description
THUNDER™ - a two-row winter, malting barley developed by Oregon State University (OSU) - has met AMBAs requirements and was selected for the 2019 recommendation list for malting barley’s.
THUNDER™ is higher yielding than Endeavor and equivalent to Wintmalt, considering all the available data: irrigated, dryland, and high rainfall. THUNDER™ and Endeavor are both seven days earlier to head than Wintmalt, an advantage for reducing the number of irrigations required and avoiding summer heat stress, which can reduce malting quality.
Under irrigation, THUNDER™ has a ~ 900+ lb/acre yield advantage over the Endeavor and Wintmalt, together with excellent test weight, earliness, short plant height, lodging resistance, good grain protein, and a high percentage of plump kernels.
In high rainfall environments, west of the Cascades, a comprehensive program of fungicide protection for THUNDER™, Endeavor, and Wintmalt is required for optimum performance. There is limited data on THUNDER™’s potential for dryland production.
THUNDER™ meets or exceeds the performance of Endeavor and Wintmalt for adjunct malt specifications, and will be of interest to craft brewers interested in higher enzymatic potential than that available with Wintmalt.
For complete agronomic and quality summaries, please see https://barleyworld.org/barley-info/seed-availability
Status
Seed production license agreements are available
