Nutritional value is about the same as that of Belford. WA7999-88 is expected to supplant Belford, which was released about 1950. Foundation seed of WA7999-88 will be produced in 1996. It has operated under a decentralized system since 1992 involving WSU, the Washington Barley Commission, the Washington State Crop Improvement Association, Great Western Malting Company, and county coordinators. Ten counties and 26-42 growers have been involved each year.
Growers conduct the tests on their farms with their own equipment.
There is usually a single replication of four to ten varieties per location. Farms are replications for analysis purposes. The project has extension as well as research value. Results of the on-farm tests have been complimentary to those of the conventional small plot trials. Yield ranks among varieties have not differed between the two test systems.