Winter wheat yields remain ahead of the five-year average

Harvest Results now include 25 Recommended Lists (RL) treated winter wheat trial sites: Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Devon, East Lothian, East Yorkshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lincolnshire (x3), Norfolk (x3), North Yorkshire (x2), Suffolk (x3), Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Fife, Scottish Borders, Glamorgan and Sunderland, reports AHDB.

The average yield of control varieties in these trials stands at 11.55 t/ha, ahead of the five-year average of 11.21 t/ha. Untreated yield results are now available from eight sites: Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Norfolk, Devon, East Lothian, Shropshire, Glamorgan and North Yorkshire. The average yield of the control varieties is 7.39 t/ha, this is behind the five-year average of 8.40 t/ha.

In 2019, the Group 4 variety LG Skyscraper (soft) is the highest yielding at 105%. This is followed by KWS Kerrin (hard, 104%), Gleam (hard, 104%), Graham (hard, 104%) LG Spotlight (soft, 103%), Shabras (hard, 103%) and RGT Gravity (hard, 103%). Yield isn’t everything with quality wheats but the top yielding nabim Group 1 bread variety is Crusoe (99%). KWS Extase is the highest yielding nabim Group 2 bread wheat (102%), with KWS Siskin at 101%. KWS Firefly leads the nabim Group 3 biscuit yields (103%), with KWS Barrel at 101%.

Varieties with the highest septoria tritici disease ratings lead the way with untreated yields: KWS Extase (137%), Graham (127%) and LG Sundance at 118% of the untreated control.

Five year averages

Current good performers, based on five-year average yields, include the soft Group 4 varieties LG Skyscraper (105%) and LG Spotlight (103%), as well as the hard Group 4 varieties RGT Gravity (103%), Gleam (103%) and KWS Kerrin (103%). Based on these figures, the highest yielding nabim Group 1 variety is KWS Zyatt (99%). The nabim Group 2 varieties with the highest yields are KWS Extase (101%) and KWS Siskin (100%). For nabim Group 3, KWS Firefly and KWS Barrel, both with a yield of 101%, have the highest yields for the group.

In untreated trials, KWS Extase (127%), Graham (117%) and LG Sundance (113%) have performed well on yield, when compared to the untreated control. These varieties have the highest septoria tritici disease ratings on the 2019/20 RL.

2019 Candidates

Looking at the five-year averages, Group 4 Candidates are performing well on yield: KWS Kinetic (hard, 104%), LG Graduate (soft, 102%), RGT Lantern (hard, 102%), KWS Parkin (hard, 102%), Elysium (soft, 101%) and Theodore (hard, 100%). The potential bread-making variety RGT Blossom (98%) is also performing well on yield. The variety Theodore also has a high untreated yield at 120% of the untreated control.