Colin, who grows a range of combinable crops and miscanthus across 485ha based at Gander Farm, Hibaldstow near Brigg, direct-drilled the 6ha of Aleksandra at the end of September after a pass with a low-disturbance subsoiler.
The seed crop followed a two-year break of maize followed by peas on medium-bodied soil.
“I used the usual seed rate of about 200kg/ha,” says Colin. “In hindsight, that might have been too much – the Aleksandra went into a pretty fertile situation and the seed was the biggest I’ve ever seen and full of vigour. But, having lost crops during the wet autumn the year before, I was being a bit cautious.
“It was certainly impressive – the crop raced out of the ground and tillered so well that I decided to put the brakes on it, delaying the first nitrogen until the second week of March, limited to 60kg/ha.
Colin Chappell, Gander Farm
“I had applied foliar phosphite in the autumn and followed this with a further application plus manganese in third week of March, but the crop had nothing else in terms of nutrition until early April, when the main dose of nitrogen, 100kg/ha, went on.”
Colin also delayed the first split dose of trinexapac growth regulator until after GS30 to avoid further tillering, applying it with the foliar feed.
A second dose followed plus cycocel in early April towards GS32. “I’ve been told the crop will need a follow-up after that, being a first cereal and on reasonably bodied land,” says Colin. “I will probably use ethephon, just before awns emerge.”
Aleksandra has some excellent disease resistance scores, so fungicide treatments will be tweaked according to the season. “I’ll probably load it up with RevyPro (revysol + prothioconazole) at T1. That would usually be sufficient on commercial barley, but because it is a seed crop I’ll see what the weather situation is like at T2.”
Colin is reluctant to predict how this particular crop might do, but says 8t/ha, the farm’s norm, would be a great result. “If I’d applied a lower seed rate I could have pushed the N harder and earlier, so that might cost in the end.”
But there’s no doubting Aleksandra’s commercial potential, he adds. “It’s vigour alone speaks volumes; as well as producing robust plants that could be very useful for shading blackgrass out.
“The variety has a very good specific weight, helped by its excellent disease resistance. It could be a very attractive variety as a feed barley, and if it has good thick stems it could be a good one for the AD market as well. If it performs as I hope, it will be a definite contender on this farm.”
Key points
• Two-row feed barley with exceptional disease resistance
• Highest untreated yield and specific weight of any variety available today
• Treated yield on par with KWS Tardis in Agrovista and breeder trials
• Easy-to-manage feed variety with maximum straw yield
• Medium to long straw, perfectly suited to livestock farmers
• PGR recommended
for more information visit Aleksandra 2 row barley variety