Forage barley breeding programs commonly select new barley lines based on yield and awnless characteristics despite the importance of forage quality. Our objectives were: (1) to evaluate a subset of the World Barley Core Collection (WC) and commercially available barley cultivars for forage quality and agronomic characteristics and (2) assess suitability of WC lines for use in a forage barley breeding program. The subset, containing 10 WC barley lines and 10 commercial cultivars, was grown in a replicated field trial (r=4) under irrigated conditions in 2004 near Bozeman, MT. Agronomic data collected included plant height, % lodging, maturity score, and yield (t/ha). Forage clip samples were collected at three stages of maturity; boot, anthesis, and at harvest for hay. All samples were analyzed for DM, NO3-N, ADF and NDF. Samples at harvest were evaluated for 48 h ISDMD. Nitrate-N did not differ (P > 0.10) between WC lines and commercial cultivars at boot, anthesis, or harvest stages of maturity (average 0.12, 0.15, and 0.28%, respectively). Acid detergent fiber content did not differ (P > 0.10) between WC lines and commercial cultivars at boot or anthesis stages of maturity (29.9 and 36.0%, respectively). Commercial cultivars had 4% greater (P < 0.01) ISDMD when compared to WC lines (68.31 vs. 65.84 %, respectively). World collection lines were shorter (P = 0.07) and had narrower (P = 0.01) flag leaves when compared to commercial cultivars (86.1 vs. 82.2 cm and 11.5 vs. 9.7 mm; respectively). Yield tended to greater (P = 0.11) for WC lines when compared to commercial cultivars (7.77 vs. 7.27 t/ha). Based on yield and NO3-N results, selected world barley core collection lines were comparable to commercially available barley cultivars and could be utilized in a forage barley breeding program for improved forage quality.