COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF WINTER AND SPRING MALTING BARLEYS IN SEMIARID GROWING CONDITIONS

In Europe, during the 1960s, mainly two-rowed spring barley was used f or malting. Traditionally, spring malting barley was produced in regio ns with moderate temperatures and adequate rainfall throughout the gro wing season. Winter malting barley, on the other hand, was mostly grow n in the milder arid and semiarid parts of Europe. Due to global clima tic changes and its higher yield, winter malting barley is now increas ing in acreage in the traditional spring barley regions. Our study inc luded a comparative analysis of several grain and malt characters of t he winter and spring malting barley grown under the agroecological con ditions of the Vojvodina Province, Yugoslavia. One thousand grain weig ht was shown to be approximately the same for both growth habits, wher eas winter malting barley proved to have a higher hectoliter mass than the spring one. In those years that were less favorable for spring ba rley production, winter malting barley had better quality characters, namely a higher fine extract content, a better malt modification, and a lower malt protein content.