Hordeum is a genus of annual and perennial plants in the grass family. They are native throughout the temperate regions of Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas.
Triticeae is a botanical tribe within the subfamily Pooideae of grasses that includes genera with many domesticated species. Major crop genera found in this tribe include wheat, barley, and rye; crops in other genera include some for human consumption, and others used for animal feed or rangeland protection. Among the world's cultivated species, this tribe has some of the most complex genetic histories. An example is bread wheat, which contains the genomes of three species with only one being a wheat Triticum species. Seed storage proteins in the Triticeae are implicated in various food allergies and intolerances.
Hordeum jubatum, with common names foxtail barley, bobtail barley, squirreltail barley, and intermediate barley, is a perennial plant species in the grass family Poaceae. It occurs wild mainly in northern North America and adjacent northeastern Siberia. However, as it escaped often from gardens it can be found worldwide in areas with temperate to warm climates, and is considered a weed in many countries. The species is a polyploid and originated via hybridization of an East Asian Hordeum species with a close but extinct relative of Californian H. brachyantherum. It is grown as an ornamental plant for its attractive inflorescences and when done flowering for its inflorescence.
Rhynchosporium secalis is an ascomycete fungus that is the causal agent of barley and rye scald.
Gluten is the seed storage protein in mature wheat seeds. It is the sticky substance in bread wheat which allows dough to rise and retain its shape during baking. The same, or very similar, proteins are also found in related grasses within the tribe Triticeae. Seed glutens of some non-Triticeae plants have similar properties, but none can perform on a par with those of the Triticeae taxa, particularly the Triticum species. What distinguishes bread wheat from these other grass seeds is the quantity of these proteins and the level of subcomponents, with bread wheat having the highest protein content and a complex mixture of proteins derived from three grass species.
Tilletia caries is a basidiomycete that causes common bunt of wheat. The common names of this disease are stinking bunt of wheat and stinking smut of wheat. This pathogen infects wheat, rye, and various other grasses. T. caries is economically and agriculturally important because it reduces both the wheat yield and grain quality.
Puccinia coronata is a plant pathogen and causal agent of oat and barley crown rust. The pathogen occurs worldwide, infecting both wild and cultivated oats. Crown rust poses a threat to barley production, because the first infections in barley occur early in the season from local inoculum. Crown rusts have evolved many different physiological races within different species in response to host resistance. Each pathogenic race can attack a specific line of plants within the species typical host. For example, there are over 290 races of P. coronata. Crops with resistant phenotypes are often released, but within a few years virulent races have arisen and P. coronata can infect them.
Hordeum murinum is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, commonly known as wall barley or false barley. It is a close relative of cultivated barley.
A doubled haploid (DH) is a genotype formed when haploid cells undergo chromosome doubling. Artificial production of doubled haploids is important in plant breeding.
Barley, a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikelets and making it much easier to harvest. Its use then spread throughout Eurasia by 2000 BC. Barley prefers relatively low temperatures and well-drained soil to grow. It is relatively tolerant of drought and soil salinity but is less winter-hardy than wheat or rye.
The Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, a unit of the University of California Natural Reserve System, is an ecological reserve and biological field station in Santa Clara County, California. It is located on 3,260 acres (13.2 km2) in the Diablo Range, northwest of Mount Hamilton, at 1,500 ft (460 m) elevation.
Elymus virginicus, or Virginia wildrye, is a perennial bunchgrass located in Virginia and the eastern United States. Virginia wild rye is one of the few cool season native grasses found in the east Texas area. It is extremely palatable to livestock and will decrease without proper grazing management. It spreads via seed and tillering. It can be confused with Canadian wild rye which is a more robust plant with longer awns. It should be cut early in the season when used for hay to avoid ergot contamination. Northern Missouri Germplasm Virginia wild rye was released in 1999 by the Missouri Plant Material Center for use in northern Missouri.
Plant use of endophytic fungi in defense occurs when endophytic fungi, which live symbiotically with the majority of plants by entering their cells, are utilized as an indirect defense against herbivores. In exchange for carbohydrate energy resources, the fungus provides benefits to the plant which can include increased water or nutrient uptake and protection from phytophagous insects, birds or mammals. Once associated, the fungi alter nutrient content of the plant and enhance or begin production of secondary metabolites. The change in chemical composition acts to deter herbivory by insects, grazing by ungulates and/or oviposition by adult insects. Endophyte-mediated defense can also be effective against pathogens and non-herbivory damage.
Psathyrostachys juncea is a species of grass known by the common name Russian wildrye. It was formerly classified as Elymus junceus. It is native to Russia and China, and has been introduced to other parts of the world, such as Canada and the United States. Psathyrostachys juncea is a great source of food for grazing animals, as it has high nutrition value in its dense basal leaves, even in the late summer and autumn seasons. This species can grow and prosper in many harsh environments, making it an ideal candidate for improvement as it can grow in areas were farming is difficult. This species is a drought-resistant forage plant and can survive during the cool seasons. It is also a cross-pollinator and is self-sterile. This means that P. juncea cannot self-fertilize; it must find another plant of the same species with which to exchange gametes. Self-sterilization increases the genetic diversity of a species.
Elymus caninus, the bearded couch or bearded wheatgrass, is a species of flowering plant in the family Poaceae that is native to Europe including the UK but can be found introduced in the US states of Oregon and Washington. E. caninus has been observed in two morphotypes; the first population being "pauciflorum," with the second being "caninus."
Hordeum spontaneum, commonly known as wild barley or spontaneous barley, is the wild form of the grass in the family Poaceae that gave rise to the cereal barley. Domestication is thought to have occurred on two occasions, first about ten thousand years ago in the Fertile Crescent and again later, several thousand kilometres further east.
Epichloë festucae is a systemic and seed-transmissible endophytic fungus of cool season grasses.
Epichloë canadensis is a hybrid asexual species in the fungal genus Epichloë.
Hordeum bulbosum, bulbous barley, is a species of barley native to southern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and as far east as Afghanistan, with a few naturalized populations in North America, South America and Australia. Since 1970 it has been used in the Hordeum bulbosum Method to produce doubled haploid (DH) wheat and barley plants by crossing it with T. aestivum or H. vulgare, followed by the elimination of the H. bulbosum chromosomes from the offspring. These DH plants are important in breeding new varieties of wheat and barley, and in scientific studies. H. bulbosum is also being looked at as a source of genes for disease resistance and other traits for barley crop improvement.
