Aleksandra winter barley impresses in tough season
19th September 2024
New winter feed barley Aleksandra from Agrovista has delivered impressive yields and excellent quality grain in Yorkshire after the toughest of seasons, recovering strongly from the effects of heavy and prolonged autumn and winter rainfall, an expert said.
East Yorkshire-based agronomist Dan Janney looked after the crop, which was grown on heavy but fertile land near Beverley.
He said: “It got off to a really nice start, combi-drilled at the beginning of October after spring barley.
“But we then had loads of rain, six acres of the 26-acre field flooded.
“Early nitrogen applications were delayed. We thought we were going to lose the crop at one point, but it held on. It must have really scavenged for any nutrients that were there. When May arrived, it seemed to come into its own – it recovered very well and came back to life.”
Discounting the flooded area, Aleksandra yielded around the farm average of 9t/ha. Across the entire field, it still achieved over 8t/ha, whilst producing a very bold, clean sample.
Excellent disease resistance
Mr Janney continued: “It wasn’t the thickest crop, but it yielded really well, and the grain looked excellent.
“The field had received quite a lot of FYM, but we applied trinexapac in mid-March and a month later at T1, and it stood absolutely fine. The straw was fantastic, which was important on this mixed farm.”
The expert added that Aleksandra’s excellent disease resistance was severely tested given the season, but it came through with flying colours.
The fungicide programme began in mid-March with prothioconazole, followed at T1 with Jaunt (fluoxastrobin + prothioconazole + trifloxystrobin) and Arizona (folpet). At T2, it had Jaunt again, plus foliar potassium as Wholly K.
“There was a little bit of rhynchosporium early on, but that was controlled well, and the crop looked really clean for the rest of the season.
“This is not a high-input farm, which is why the variety works so well here.
“Given the season the Aleksandra endured, the grower is really happy with it and so am I. It has done fantastically well,” Mr Janney concluded.
Aleksandra in brief
Aleksandra’s superb disease resistance gives growers the opportunity to reduce the use of fungicides and offers flexibility with fungicide timings, Agrovista expert said.
This is particularly beneficial to growers who, for various reasons, may not always be able to spray at the optimum timings.
There is a direct link between Aleksandra’s disease resistance, the variety produced the highest untreated yield across two years of national official independent trials, and its superb specific weight.
It has the highest figure of any winter barley trialled to date through the AHDB Variety (VL) and Recommended List (RL) candidacy trials.
Mr Janney said that with high specific weight comes consistency of yield. Whatever the weather, yield is safeguarded by the genetic capability of the plant to build starch at maximum efficiency.
Aleksandra also had the lowest screening losses of all winter barley varieties in RL trials in 2023.
Aleksandra is a medium- to long-strawed variety that will benefit from a comprehensive plant growth regulator programme when following a break crop or grown in highly fertile situations.
Where grown in a more typical winter barley situation, such as a second or third cereal or on lighter soils, lodging has not been an issue, the expert concluded.
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