BOR Reino – the new yield king of barleys

The new barley variety BOR Reino raises the yield level of six‑row barley to a new standard.
BOR Reino is 16% higher yielding than the official trial control variety Kaarle and 6% higher yielding than any other six‑row variety on the list.

These results of high‑level breeding work will be available on the market in autumn 2025 — developed with Boreal’s Nordic expertise in breeding for northern conditions. BOR Reino is a late six‑row barley variety that combines exceptionally high yield potential with excellent agronomic traits.

According to Mika Isolahti, who led the breeding of Reino: “Good and broad disease resistance explains its lateness.”

A durable and high yielding barley variety

The variety has:

• the highest starch content among six‑row varieties
• strong straw
• good performance under variable growing conditions
• excellent disease resistance
• high hectolitre weight
• high full grain percentage

Reino also has very good nitrogen uptake, even though protein content is typically low for a high‑yielding variety.

“I would say the easiest way to raise the yield level of six-row barley is simply to adopt BOR Reino,”
Isolahti states.

A showcase of plant breeding expertise

BOR Reino was bred using advanced genomic selection.

Mathematical models were built from:

• genetic data
• field observations

to identify crossing lines that transmit:

• high yield
• good disease resistance

The result is a variety that combines yield performance and cultivation reliability in an exceptionally successful way.

“Reino stood out immediately in our early field trials. In our breeder trials the results were so clear that there was no doubt about sending it to official variety trials.”

The name BOR Reino honours Boreal’s long‑time, now retired barley breeder Reino Aikasalo.

“When Reino retired, I decided that one day we would name a variety after him. We just had to wait until one was good enough.”