Malting Barley Breeding Guidelines updated by AMBA
The American Malting Barley Association (AMBA) regularly reviews the quality parameters required by the malting, brewing, and distilling industries to identify the target specifications for barley to meet end-user needs. Barley breeders that seek funding through the AMBA grant program use these targets to inform their selections. In order to meet the diverse needs of the respective industries, three categories of malt are outlined in the guidelines: Adjunct Brewing Two-Row, All-Malt Brewing & Distilling Two-Row, and Grain Distillers Two-Row. The last update to the Breeding Guidelines was in June 2021. AMBA has just completed a thorough review of the Breeding Guidelines, which were recently adopted at their Technical Committee meeting April 9, 2025. The following changes were made to reflect evolving industry needs. Changed All-Malt Brewing & Distilling Two-Row Barley Protein from ≤12% to ≤11.8% Changed All-Malt Brewing & Distilling Two-Row Malt Protein from ≤11.8% to ≤11.5% Changed All-Malt Brewing & Distilling Two-Row Soluble Protein (S/T) from <5.3% to <5.2% Added General Comment on Barley Test Weight for all categories. The breeding guidelines will be formally reviewed again in Fall 2026, but in the meantime, any suggested changes should be brought forth to the Quality Evaluation Program Subcommittee and AMBA Technical Director, Ashley McFarland (ashley@ambainc.org) for consideration.
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