Registration of ‘VT Beahm’ winter forage barley

Abstract ‘VT Beahm’ (Reg. no CV‐384, PI 702638) is an awnless, six‐row barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar with a winter growth habit. VT Beahm was released by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station in May 2021. Prior to being named, VT Beahm was tested under the experimental designation VA16BFHB‐268 NA. VT Beahm was evaluated from 2020 to 2022 at four to six locations in the Virginia Tech Official Variety Trial. Compared with commercial cultivars, the mean grain yield (3755 kg ha −1 ) of VT Beahm was similar to that of ‘Nomini’ but lower than that of ‘Secretariat’, ‘Thoroughbred’, and ‘Flavia’. The average grain volume weight of VT Beahm (63.3 kg hL −1 ) was significantly ( p ≤ 0.05) higher than that of Nomini, but lower than that of the other commercial cultivars. Head emergence of VT Beahm was similar to that of Nomini and Secretariat and 6 and 10 days earlier than that of Thoroughbred and Flavia, respectively. VT Beahm was developed primarily as a replacement for the barley cultivar Nomini. VT Beahm provides barley producers and end users in the Eastern United States with acceptable forage quality and moderate‐to‐high levels of resistance to prevalent diseases, including Fusarium head blight. Forage evaluation results showed acceptable quality profiles with specific quality traits, including high crude protein and dry matter content for the years tested. VT Beahm is a good winter forage barley cultivar best adapted to the Mid‐Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. regions. VT Beahm will provide producers and farmers in Virginia and neighboring states with a viable alternative to the currently grown commercial forage winter barley cultivars.