Lg Ester Barley: The Most Profitable for Czech Beer
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The Czech Republic is entirely self-sufficient in the production of Wheat, which is an important raw material for Czech pastries, and exports a significant part of its production. The Czech Republic’s 2022 Grain harvest was forecast at 7.56 million tons in September, above July estimates, according to data from the Czech Statistics Bureau. Last year, the Grain harvest totaled 7.22 million tons.
The overall area sown with basic Grains increased to 1,298,775 hectares from 1,235,253 hectares harvested in 2021. The most frequent crop on fields in the Czech Republic is still winter Wheat, which covers over a fourth of the total area under crops (29%). Its estimated harvest is around 4.2 million tons.
In 2020, Wheat exports for Czech Republic totaled 523,218 thousand US dollars, although Czech Republic’s Wheat exports fluctuated substantially in recent years. Common (T. aestivum), Durum (T. durum), and Spelt (T. spelta) are the main types. The country also imports some amount of Wheat, mainly from Slovakia.
Czech Barley Types
According to the EUROSTAT, the country’s Barley cultivation area was 326.74 thousand ha in December of 2021. Between 2016 and 2020, an average of 1,128,000 tons of spring and 612,000 tons of winter Barley were harvested in the Czech Republic annually. In 2020, the following malting varieties were represented in the propagating areas of Barley: Bojos (25%), Overture (12%), Laudis 550 (11%), KWS Irina (8%), KWS Amadora (6%), Spitfire (5%), Francin (4%), Manta (4%), Bente (3%), Malz (3%), Ovation (2%), and Sebastian (2%).
Czech beer is unique in its taste and quality. It must be brewed from only three essential ingredients – water, hops, and Barley malt made from approved and recommended varieties of spring Barley. The most important varieties of Bojos, Laudis 550, and Malz in the Czech beer segment are now being joined by the promising novelties LG Ester and LG Stamgast.
In 2021, seven spring Barley varieties were registered in the Czech Republic. RGT Gagarin was registered as a non-malting variety. The variety LG Stamgast fulfilled the requirements listed in the application for the PGI “České Beer” and was recommended for the production of the beer with the PGI “České Beer.” LG Stamgast is characterized mainly by a low level of proteolytic modification and a lower level of final attenuation required for this variety. Amidala, Focus, Greenway, KWS Jessie, LG Belcanto provided malt with an extract content of over 83%. These varieties also easily degraded nitrogenous substances.
LG Ester is currently the most profitable variety recommended for beer production with the PGI České Beer. It surpasses wide non-malting varieties in terms of Grain and front Grain yield. Its malting quality and it is suitable for the production of Czech lager. LG Ester is already being purchased by some malt houses and is included in the operational testing of the company Plzeňský Prazdroj.
In the overall average of the registration tests, LG Ester was the most profitable variety for producing Czech beer in the untreated variant. In the corn, beet, and Grain production area, the untreated variant achieved the best yield of leading Grain from the entire tested assortment of spring Barley varieties.
With a yield of 8.28 t/ha from 34.91 ha, LG Stamgast was the third most profitable variety in the Prostějov district. Also, in the demonstration trial in Kroměříž, it achieved an excellent yield of 11.26 t/ha already in the basic untreated variant, which was 107.4% of the average of the entire trial. In the Cultivation Technology Competition in Kroměříž 2021, with a yield of 11.53 t/ha, it provided the second-best yield of the varieties for “České Beer,” just behind the LG Ester variety.
Other sources: https://www.agromanual.cz/
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