Manava Barley Seed

Manava is an early, two-row feed barley. It was bred by Agri Obtentions and registered in Türkiye in 2014 in the name of Granar Tarım. In the two-year TTSM registration trials run between 2011 and 2013 it came first among two-row varieties with 771.7 kg per decare.

It has an alternative habit and can be sown either in autumn or in spring. If the autumn window closes on you, holding the variety over to spring does not mean losing the year.

Two-row or six-row

There is no single right answer; the water status of the field decides. Six-row varieties carry more grains per ear, and on bottomland with enough water that count turns into an advantage. Two-row varieties have larger, more uniform grain, and that is where the gap opens when water is short. Manava is on the two-row side, and its performance on dryland comes from exactly that.

How it behaves in the field

Cold and drought tolerance are both good. It can be grown on bottomland, semi-bottomland and dryland; on dry fields whose soil holds water the yield potential is particularly high. That makes Manava a practical option for ground with no irrigation but with soil that keeps what the winter brings.

Heading runs from very early to early. Earliness means grain filling finishes before the hot, dry days arrive in a dry spring — the crop escapes the drought rather than enduring it. At ripening the ear is fully nodding and bird damage does not appear.

The plant stands 90-100 cm on sound straw, so lodging resistance is high. Tillering capacity is good.

Grain and quality

The grain is large, pale yellow and uniform. That uniformity shows directly in the screenings: the fraction above 2.5 and 2.8 mm is high. In feed barley the screening percentage is the most practical measure of how even a lot is for grain size.

Test weight 65-77 kg/hl, thousand-grain weight 35-52 g, protein 10.5-15%.

Disease

Tolerant to powdery mildew and the rusts, and highly tolerant to barley leaf stripe and barley leaf spot. Those two can shrink leaf area fast in a cool, wet spring and cut grain filling short; tolerance takes the pressure off spraying.

Sowing and yield

We recommend 25-30 kg per decare under rainfed conditions and 22-25 kg under irrigation. Yield runs 350-400 kg/da rainfed and 600-800 kg/da irrigated.

The sowing window is flexible. Sown in autumn it completes tillering over winter; left to spring, its earliness lets it fit a short season. Being able to use one variety in two different sowing plans removes the risk of running out of time while you wait for autumn rain.

Seed is supplied as Basic/Pre-basic class in 50 kg bags. If you want a six-row alternative with a higher ceiling under irrigation, look at Ramata. Talk to our agronomist about sowing date, seed rate and whether the variety suits your ground. Call us for prices, terms and availability.