To assess the performance of nine individual barley cultivars focused on winter vs spring barley types and their interaction with fungicides.

• Severe frost events on 28 and 29 August 2018, combined with dry conditions during spring (GSR of 166mm with 32mm of the total falling during mid – late October), caused trial variability and significantly impacted yield results.
• Applying a foliar fungicide gave variable yield responses, depending on cultivar in the absence of significant disease levels.
• La Trobe was significantly higher yielding than other barley cultivars tested, with retention and screenings among the best in the trial.
• Maltster and RGT Planet gave slightly inferior yields under the extreme environmental conditions experienced during 2018, but had statistically similar grain retention and screenings to La Trobe and superior test weights.
• Winter barley cultivars that developed later during spring were more severely affected by the dry conditions than the earlier-developing spring barley cultivars.