- This year, winter barley was heavily infected by the barley yellow dwarf virus.
- After winter, it was often infected with grain and grass fungus.
- In April, spring frosts became stressful for him.
- Additionally, barley did not escape drought in May. Water shortage came at critical moments, limiting the crop yield.
In recent years, the area of winter barley has increased primarily at the expense of spring barley. It was favored by warm winters, which did not thin out the planting stock, and the fact that the plants made good use of post-winter water. Generally, it escaped drought better than other winter cereals. It yielded high and left the fields early, which encouraged its cultivation.
Will the winter barley streak stop?
There are many indications that this year will unfortunately not be a year for winter barley. Growers of this species complain about its low yields (a few per hectare). They look for several reasons for this. After all, winter barley had wintered well, but in early spring everyone was wondering why it was in such a poor condition? Field diagnoses indicated several problems. Barley often showed signs of infection with the cereal and grass fungus, locally there was a lack of oxygen in the soil (excessive rainfall), and the plants were suspected of being heavily infected with barley yellow dwarf disease (BYDV).
This fact was confirmed by laboratory tests, which showed that the plants were infected with barley yellow dwarf disease. What we write about below:
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Winter barley is heavily infected with viruses. This is confirmed by the results of laboratory tests
Viruses steal up to half of the crop
Viral diseases affect the physiology of the plant and limit the proper development of plants.
– Literature data indicate that BYDV infections cause yield losses ranging from 41% to 63%. Plant infections result in poorer ear filling, lower number of kernels and lower kernel weight. Additionally, strong virus pressure and a high percentage of infected plants (up to 80%) this year influenced the decision to liquidate and plow entire plantations (100% damage) – says Dr. Katarzyna Trzmiel, Department of Virology and Bacteriology, IOR-PIB for farmer.pl Poznań.
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Winter barley is heavily infected with viruses. What effect might this have on the yield?
Drought – the second strong factor limiting yield
The situation was made worse by humidity conditions in May. The barley then eared and poured out the grain. Lack of water limited the process. Plantations located on poor soils and in difficult spring regeneration situations suffered particularly from this.
Drought in winter cereals has been confirmed since the first drought reports. 1 and 2 drought report. Source: IUNG-PIB
3.4 drought report in winter cereals Source: IUNG-PIB 
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Harvesting barley early can be problematic. And what are the yields? 
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Harvest 2024. Barley is growing poorly for now. Humidity high
Spring frosts killed off some of the plantations
This year, on some plantations, an unusual phenomenon of damage to the structure of the ear was recorded as a result of spring frosts that occurred after April 20. Then, low temperatures slowed down the vegetation that had accelerated after warm weeks and locally became a very strong stress for plants. In some places the ears were empty, which was the result of frosts.
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Empty ears are the result of spring frosts. No grain will be harvested from damaged plantations 
