Article taken from Farmers Guide, June 2017.
Many growers will have plans to attend one or more agronomy open days that are being held across the country over the next few weeks.
These events, and of course Cereals 2017, will provide a great opportunity to assess up-and-coming varieties and recent arrivals to see which, if any, should be given a tryout on the farm this autumn.
With so many varieties to choose from, I've put together a shortlist of those that are catching the eye this season.
Winter wheats
KWS Zyatt is a bread-making variety with a feed-wheat yield. It is the highest yielding Group 1 variety and suits a first or second wheat slot. It has very good disease resistant scores, is less prone to sprouting than some rivals and grows vigorously in the autumn, and has tillered well in cooler temperatures. So far, it's really impressive.
A lot of people are growing KWS Siskin for the first time. It is very vigorous and has stayed clean through the season. It brings higher yields to the Group 2 category, and has good specific weight and protein scores. One of only three varieties resistant to all known yellow rust strains, it has a septoria tritici resistance score of 6.8, second-best on the Recommended List.
Group 3 variety KWS Basset has the edge on quality compared with stablemate KWS Barrel, and a higher septoria resistance score. It is also good as a second wheat and its high specific weight (the best of the Group 3s) will suit the export market.
KWS Kerrin and Shabras are joint highest yielders on the RL. Both are hard Group 4s, both do consistently well across all regions. Kerrin has good all-round disease resistance scores and is resistant to orange wheat blossom midge, Shabras is better on septoria and edges Kerrin on yellow rust. They suit light and heavy soils.
One other wheat worth mentioning is Belepi. It's not new, but remains a cracking variety for those looking for a truly flexible option after roots or maize, or where drilling is delayed to help control black-grass. It can be drilled from the end of September to the end of March.
Oilseed rape
One of the stand-out varieties in trial this season is Annalise. This candidate is resistant to turnip yellows virus (TuYV), an under-rated disease which has been widespread this season, as in most years. This conventional variety has the highest oil content of all the varieties, good gross output and has strong disease resistance ratings. It is likely to replace Amalie on farm.
Another candidate, Django, will compete with Elgar on farm this autumn. Django is slightly shorter and giving more consistent high yields. It scores a 6 and 7 for light leaf spot and phoma respectively.
DK Exception looks set to replace farmer favourite Incentive thanks to its solid disease ratings. It has been the largest OSR variety sold in Europe for the past three years, being known for its consistent performance, and is entering the UK market for the first time this season. It has the highest agronomic merit of all UK varieties and is from the Darriot breeding line with its exceptional autumn vigour.
Agrovista is hosting a wheat variety trial this season near Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, on 7th June. Organised by agronomist Jack Hoyles, it features a range of new varieties on large-scale farm plots.
Email: craig.green@agrovista.co.uk for further details.
Craig Green is based at Great Ellingham, Norfolk.