Continue To Monitor Barley And Wheat For Freeze Damage

Here is an update to last week’s freeze damage article on barley and wheat.

Wheat Anthers

I continued to monitor our wheat and barley through last week for signs of frost damage and have not been able to detect much at this point. Our barley lines are mostly headed and many have flowered and extruded anthers. Barley flowers just as it emerges from the boot, unlike wheat which is a few days after head emergence. Close inspection of the barley grains showed small developing kernels in some lines, so I am hopeful this will continue. In the adjacent wheat, I have been carefully splitting the stems to observe the developing heads. I have dissected individual florets and they still appear healthy with a lime green banana shaped appearance. I am hopeful that they will continue to develop. I have seen no other freeze injury symptom on the heads. I have been relying on this Kansas State publication for some background on diagnosing the impacts of freeze damage on wheat. According to Jim Shroyer from Kansas State, wheat fields rarely show complete sterility from frost kill; often only some or parts of some of the heads are damaged.  I would continue to monitor suspect fields as they flower, and if they still appear normal, proceed with you original plan for fungicide applications.

Barley Grain Development

Source : psu.edu