Six soft feed wheats join new RL

Elsoms’ head of agriculture Adrian Hayler (left), and head of wheat breeding Stephen Smith, at the company’s plant breeding station in Spalding, Lincs. Elsoms has four new winter wheat additions to the 2017/18 Recommended List.

The AHDB Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds 2017/18 has been launched and sees 29 new varieties added, including the first soft wheat varieties in four years, reported the organisation.

The winter wheat list sees an overall increase of five varieties, while the east/west oilseed rape list has been reduced by four. In total, 28 varieties have been removed from the RL. Advances in combining high yields with good resistance traits are reflected in disease ratings for new varieties, says AHDB. Dr Simon Oxley, who heads AHDB’s Crop Production Systems, said: “This year’s biggest change is the addition of six new soft wheat feed varieties – the first new entrants for four years to a wheat category whose markets include distilling, soft biscuit wheat for export, and soft endosperm feed.

“This year, northern growers aiming for distilling markets have some exciting new varieties to consider, with improved yields, first-rate septoria tritici resistance and earlier maturity. Growers further south looking for uks biscuit export varieties or distilling varieties will also find something new.

“Feed growers in soft and hard feed markets will find varieties with a combination of high yield, early maturity, stiff straw and better septoria resistance.”

Changes in the yellow rust population last season caused the ratings of some recommended wheat varieties to fall but this year’s new entrants show good resistance to the disease, with ratings of 7 to 9. Most wheat varieties new to the RL are in the relatively low risk category, with high disease and lodging ratings and a high untreated yield.

Dr Oxley said: “The relative risk of these new varieties is low, providing confidence to early adopters of new varieties. For all varieties, new and old, the RL shows information from previous seasons, so there is always a chance risks may change. AHDB disease monitoring is important for identifying any changes that occur in the new season.”

Septoria tritici ratings are now reported to a decimal place, showing exactly where on the rating scale varieties lie and the incremental improvements being made by breeders. Eight of the new varieties have resistance scores between 6.2 and 7.3.

Protein is an important measure for the market when selecting milling wheat varieties, he continued. This year’s list shows the percentage protein achieved in trials grown to milling specification, as well as the protein levels reported in all trials, both feed and milling.

Winter wheat

KWS Zyatt is a new quality provisional nabim Group 1 winter wheat, which achieved good bread making qualities in line with other Group 1 varieties. It achieves the highest yield of all the Group 1 varieties and similar proteins to Skyfall. It has stiff straw with good resistance to septoria tritici (6.4), yellow rust (7), brown rust (6) mildew (7) and eyespot (7). It is also similar in maturity to Crusoe, and Skyfall.

It will undergo further quality testing as part of nabim’s two-step process in granting full Group 1 status.

Bennington is the highest yielding Group 4 soft variety on the AHDB Recommended List, advancing the yields in this soft feed category to levels growers expect from hard group 4 varieties. It is recommended for the east and west regions where the highest yields were seen. Its high yield is in combination with stiff straw, good resistance to yellow rust (7), brown rust (7), mildew (7) and septoria tritici (6.2).

LG Sundance is a high yielding Group 4 soft feed variety for the UK, which is suitable for distilling with a medium rating. It also has the highest rating for septoria tritici (7.3) of all varieties on the Recommended List – a breakthrough in achieving good resistance and high yield. It also has stiff straw, orange wheat blossom midge resistance and good resistance to yellow rust (9).

Savello is a high-yielding Group 4 soft feed variety for the north, which is suitable for distilling with a medium rating. It has a high treated yield with the advantage of being earlier maturing than both Leeds and Revelation. It is stiff-strawed and has good resistance to yellow rust (8) and mildew (7). Although susceptible to brown rust (4), this is of lower risk in most seasons in the north of the UK.

LG Motown is a high yielding Group 4 soft feed for the UK, which is an early maturing variety suitable for distilling with a medium rating. It has stiff straw and an overall good disease resistance package for mildew (8), yellow rust (9), brown rust (7) and septoria tritici (5.8).

Moulton is a high yielding early maturing Group 4 soft feed variety for the UK, with a combination of being suitable for distilling with a medium rating and has uks export potential, achieving samples with high specific weight and Hagberg Falling Number. It has stiff straw and an overall good disease resistance package for mildew (7), yellow rust (8), brown rust (7) and septoria tritici (6.5).

Hardwicke is a high-yielding early maturing Group 4 soft feed variety for the north, suitable for distilling with a medium rating. It is stiff-strawed early maturing with good resistance to yellow rust (8), brown rust (6) and septoria tritici (5.9).

Hard feed

Four new hard feed varieties have also been added to the Recommended List.

KWS Kerrin holds the crown as the highest yielding variety on the List recommended for the east and west. This yield advantage is in combination with stiff straw, orange wheat blossom midge resistance and good resistance to mildew (7), yellow rust (7), and brown rust (7).

Shabras is recommended for the UK and combines a high yield with early maturity. It also has stiff straw and good resistance to mildew (7), yellow rust (8) and septoria tritici (6.2). The variety is, however, susceptible to brown rust (4).

Freiston combines a high yield, early maturity and stiff straw, with good resistance to mildew (7), yellow rust (9), brown rust (7) and septoria tritici (6.7).

Dunston combines a high yield with stiff straw and good resistance to yellow rust (7), brown rust (6), septoria tritici (6.7) and eyespot (6). This combination makes it one of the relatively lower risk varieties on the List.

Winter wheats at a glance

Spring wheat

KWS Cochise is a new quality nabim Group 2 spring wheat, it shows a degree of variability in testing over three years, leading to its Group 2 rating. It has the highest yield of all varieties in spring-sown trials, in combination with orange wheat blossom midge resistance, early maturity and good resistance to brown rust (8) and septoria tritici (6).

KWS Chilham is a new quality provisional nabim Group 2 spring wheat, which tends to show lower protein than a Group 1 variety, but with stronger gluten. It has good resistance to yellow rust (7) and septoria tritici (6), but it is susceptible to brown rust (4). It also has resistance to orange wheat blossom midge.

Spring wheats at a glance

Winter barley

Sunningdale is a very high yielding hybrid six-row feed barley. Although it has a similar yield to Bazooka, it is earlier maturing with shorter straw. Sunningdale has performed particularly well in the north where it is the highest yielding variety on the Recommended List. It widens the choice available to six-row hybrid feed varieties for growers throughout the UK. It has good resistance to brown rust (6), rhynchosporium (7) and net blotch (6), plus resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus.

Funky is a very high yielding early maturing conventional six-row feed with good resistance to mildew (6), brown rust (8), rhynchosporium (7) and net blotch (6), plus resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus. It is currently the only conventional six-row variety on the List.

KWS Cresswell is a high yielding early maturing two-row feed variety for the north. It has stiff straw and good resistance to rhynchosporium (6), plus resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus.

Winter barley at a glance

Spring barley

Chanson is under test for brewing and is the first recommended variety lacking a gene for lipoxygenase production. It is early maturing and has a high yield, particularly in the east and north. It can produce a lower than average specific weight, but screenings are in line with other brewing varieties. It is best to consider Chanson as a conventional variety under test for brewing, but with potential added benefits to the end user.

LG Opera is under test for brewing and malt distilling. It is a high yielding early maturing variety, with relatively short straw and good resistance to brackling and good resistance to mildew (9)

Dioptric is recommended for the north as a high yielding variety under test for grain distilling. It has a high specific weight, short straw with good resistance to brackling and good resistance to mildew (9) and ramularia (8).

Spring barley at a glance

Oilseed rape

Flamingo is a conventional variety that performs well on gross output in the East/West and combines early maturity and stiff stems with high resistance to light leaf spot (7). Phoma stem canker (4) will, however, require attention.

Nikita now has a UK recommendation adding the East/West region to the North recommendation gained last year. It has a high UK gross output in combination with stiff stems, relatively early maturity and high resistance to light leaf spot (7). Phoma stem canker (4) will, however, require attention.

Aquila is a restored hybrid that has a high gross output in combination with stiff stems, good resistance to light leaf spot (6) and to phoma stem canker (8). This variety achieves high levels of resistance to both diseases with no apparent penalties in gross output or agronomics.

DK Secret is a restored hybrid semi-dwarf variety and will be the shortest variety on the List (9) in combination with high resistance to light leaf spot (7) and phoma stem canker (8). The gross output is favourable when compared with the only other specialist semi-dwarf variety, Troy.

Ergo is a described high erucic acid (HEAR) variety for the east/west region. The oils are used for industrial processing and care should be taken to keep HEAR varieties away from others.

OSR at a glance

Oats

RGT Victorious and Griffin are conventional winter oat husked varieties. RGT Victorious combines high yields with early maturity and achieves a good specific weight and good kernel content. Griffin is also high yielding with similar positive characteristics in specific weight and kernel content. Both varieties will, however, require attention to the risk of lodging.

Peloton is a naked variety, with a combination of high yield and early maturity. It has good resistance to mildew (6) and crown rust (6).

Yukon and WPB Elyann are two new husked spring oat varieties. Yukon achieves a high yield, early maturity and stiff straw. It achieves good specific weight and kernel content. It has good resistance to mildew (8). WPB Elyann is also early maturing but slightly lower yielding, and has a very high kernel content at 80.7 per cent, combined with a good specific weight. It has good resistance to mildew (7).

Oats at a glance

What the breeders said

Bennington is the highest yielding soft wheat variety in Group 4 and is suitable for export, said breeding company Elsoms, which had four new recommendations to the RL winter wheat List. It has a very high agronomic merit and very stiff straw with a very high specific weight. Moulton, also a Group 4 soft wheat, is approved for both distilling and export. It has a very high specific weight, stiff straw and a good overall disease resistance package.

Dunston, a Group 4 hard wheat, has the highest untreated yield on the list and is identified in the AHDB variety notes as “one of the relatively lower risk varieties on the List”. Freiston, another Group 4 hard wheat, has one of the highest specific weights on the recommended list as well as one of the highest treated yields. Like all Elsoms Wheat varieties, it has first class disease resistance.

One other Elsoms newcomer to the AHDB 2017/18 recommended lists merits particular mention, highlighted the company. Chanson spring barley, bred by Saaten Union, is an exciting addition to the market as it combines “null lox” malting quality with high yield; characteristics that could initiate a fundamental change in the barley used by maltsters for the brewing sector.

“At 102 per cent of controls KWS Zyatt is the highest yielding Group 1 (P) variety with high grain protein of 13.0 per cent from trials grown to a milling specification. KWS Zyatt is a good protein scavenger and this enables it to maintain high protein levels with a new standard for yield,” said KWS wheat breeder Mark Dodds.

“We have seen KWS Zyatt perform impressively in private baking trials producing loaves with volume and a fine structure without needing additional gluten,” he added.

In addition, KWS Zyatt is the first Group 1 since Crusoe in 2012 to receive ukp status as an approved export variety.

“An untreated yield of 120 per cent of controls reflects the strength of its disease resistance package, including a septoria tritici score of 6.4,” says Mark.

“KWS Zyatt has performed consistently well over three seasons and across all regions. It has good grain characteristics, stiff straw and is an excellent second wheat choice.”

At 106 per cent of controls KWS Kerrin is the highest yielding variety to be added to the AHDB 2017-18 Recommended List. A KWS Santiago cross, it takes yields on a step from its parent, and has an exceptional performance in the east, said breeder KWS.

“KWS Kerrin is a variety that will appeal strongly to growers. It is 2 per cent higher yielding than last year’s highest yielding variety, KWS Silverstone. It performs well as a second wheat and offers a high specific weight for a feed wheat as well offering improvements in disease resistance compared to KWS Santiago,” commented Mark.

“With similar straw height to KWS Santiago it also maintains the stiff straw strength and medium maturity characteristics of its parent,” he added.

Four new cereals

Farmers will have four new high yielding cereal varieties from Syngenta to choose from on the new AHDB Recommended Lists – two new winter feed wheats, a new hybrid winter feed barley, and a new spring malting barley.

“The first of our new high yielding winter feed wheats is the hard endosperm variety Shabras,” said Syngenta seed and seed treatment manager, Samantha Brooke.

“Like the popular hard winter feed wheat Graham, which we launched earlier this year, Shabras also has good disease resistance and a high untreated yield and is quite early maturing. However, what differentiates Shabras is that it is for later drilling. As a quick developing variety it doesn’t want to be planted early, so is quite a traditional wheat in that regard. Shabras also looks good in the second cereal position,” she added.

“What is particularly appealing about Savello is that it has been accepted for distilling, and is very high yielding in the North – an area noted for distilling. So it looks an exciting option for the North region,” she added.

In the winter feed barley sector, a new Syngenta hybrid, Hyvido Sunningdale, joins Syngenta’s three other Hyvido hybrids on the Recommended List.

“With hybrid barley now accounting for about a quarter of the UK winter barley area it is good to be able to expand growers’ Hyvido hybrid barley options even further.

“A key feature of Hyvido Sunningdale is that, in the North, it is even higher yielding than Bazooka, which itself has set the bar for winter barley yields. It is also even slightly earlier maturing than Bazooka, which will also be useful for the North. That said, it is on a par with Bazooka for yield generally, so it’s not just a Northern option,” she pointed out.

Finally, a new high yielding spring barley, Dioptric is under test for grain distilling, as opposed to malt distilling which Laureate is targeted at, says Mrs Brooke.

Two new winter oat varieties from Senova have joined the AHDB Recommended List 2017/18.

New oat varieties

“Conventional husked winter oat Griffin offers high output, milling quality and sound agronomics in an attractive package,” said Senova’s Tom Yewbrey. “This combination of attributes is needed in any winter oat variety which is going to find favour with both growers and end users.”

Griffin’s kernel content of 75.5 per cent and specific weight of 50.3kg/hl meet the criteria set by millers, while it’s slightly later maturity of +1 will help to spread harvest.

Like most winter oat varieties, Griffin responds well to PGRs, continued Mr Yewbrey. “It is quite a tall variety at 120cm and has moderate lodging resistance, so a robust PGR programme will ensure that it stays upright until harvest.”

The variety has respectable 5 ratings for both mildew and crown rust, he added.

Peloton (the highest yielding naked, or huskless, oat) is a real step forwards for growers aiming at this specialist market, noted Mr Yewbrey. “As well as high yields, it offers the agronomic characteristics that will make it easier to grow and manage.”