is a six-row malting variety. It was developed by Dr Donald Rasmusson at the University of Minnesota and released in 1978. The name Morex is derived from the barley’s principal attribute—“more extract.” It was so named because it produced about 2% more malt extract than did contemporary varieties. This represented a major breakthrough in breeding at the time. Morex has good resistance to the leaf disease spot blotch, and it carries the Rpg1 gene, which gives it resistance to strains of stem rust that are currently prevalent in the United States. The parents of Morex are Cree and Bonanza. Morex is cultivated primarily in the northern Plains (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota), where between 1979 and 1991, it occupied more than 10% of the total barley acreage. It replaced the then-dominant varieties Larker and Beacon. Starting in the 1980s, it was replaced by a newer variety, Robust. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, however, it remained the six-row quality standard for American malting and brewing, which was then established by the American Malting Barley Association, Inc. (www.ambainc.org). In this role, Morex was later replaced by Robust and eventually by Lacey and Tradition. Morex was the key variety used in many genetic studies. Some of these were directed toward an understanding of genes involved in key malting quality traits such as malt extract, diastatic power, and grain protein. Morex has also been the subject of several studies into the regulation of genes during the malting process.