Three words sum up Alexandra winter barley for seed grower Colin Chappell – Very High Vigour. His 6ha crop looked strong all season and exceeded expectations come harvest.
“It had a good start in our medium-bodied soils, following maize then peas, and romped away in good growing conditions through the autumn and again in the spring, to the extent where I was trying to put the handbrake on,” says Colin, of Gander Farm, Hibaldstow near Brigg.
The crop received two PGR applications, but Colin pared back fungicide to a single, albeit fairly robust, dose at T1, using prothioconazole + fluxapyroxad and pyraclostrobin.
“We didn’t see much rain at all rain from March onwards,” he recalls. “But the crop did have a lot of biomass, so we were being careful.”
His Aleksandra looked better and better as the season progressed, despite the dry. “It looked terrific approaching harvest, with huge ears and big, bold seed.”
He cut the crop in the first week of July and it didn’t disappoint, producing an overall yield of 8.95t/ha, almost a tonne above the farm’s norm. “It really performed well, helped by a fantastic specific weight of 71.3kg/hl.”
The seed was classed as very high vigour, describing the variety’s attributes in a nutshell. “Aleksandra is like a hybrid. Put it in the ground and away it goes. It’s a hell of a barley.”
Colin is growing a further 6ha of Alexandra for seed this season. “It would be my go-to as a commercial variety. My only caveat is to use an appropriate PGR strategy and don’t overdo the nitrogen – it is quite good strength-wise but it is tall strawed.
“If I was growing a barley to feed livestock, this is the one. High yield of bold grain, plenty of straw – it ticks both those boxes. And it is a doddle to combine as you’d expect.”
