Hulless barley accessions as a pre-breeding resource for healthy food barley for Europe

Barley is sadly overlooked as a food in Europe, despite its health properties, especially beta-glucan soluble fibre. Spring barley has lower inputs than wheat and can grow iп more marginal conditions expected due to climate change. Naked (hulless) barley is а type ог barley with free-threshing grains that is especially suited for human food. Due to the small market for seed, naked barley has not been a priority for European plant breeders, but а wide diversity is available in the IPK genebank, mainly landraces. In 2023 and 2024 CROPDIVA partners tested 300 hulless barley accessions at three sites in Serbia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. An augmented design was used with 10 standards - hulled and hulless barley varieties from all three countries and Germany, each replicated six times within each experimental site.