Improving Nutrient Management for Enhanced Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Yields and Grain Quality using Advanced Remote Sensing Technology

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) has been one of the most important food crops since ancient times (Elk et al., 2013), with the history of its domestication debatable but widely acknowledged at about 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia (Lev-Yadun et al., 2000). It is ranked as the fourth most widely cultivated cereal in the World in terms of area and quantity (Elk et al., 2013), whereas the United Kingdom (UK) is ranked as the ninth major global producer of barley, producing 8.117 million tonnes on 1.388 million ha (UK National Statistics, 2020). Scottish barley production is around 1.49 million and 365,000 tonnes for spring and winter barley, respectively (Steve, 2017), produced on 288,000 ha, accounting for fifty per cent of the total area devoted to arable crops production in Scotland (SRUC, 2018). Scottish barley is predominantly produced as a feed grain and for malting (Daniel et al., 2021), with an estimated forty-seven per cent of the total production used for malting. Demand for barley and its products is increasing and will continue to increase due to the rise in human and livestock populations. To satisfy the need of the rising population (human and livestock), judicious intensification of available land and resources, which includes the use of agricultural inputs, must be put in place to maximize the productivity (quantity and quality) of barley.