David Bouch, national seeds manager at Hutchinsons, has highlighted the various options for spring cropping this year.
He notes that spring barley still offers the best potential for rotational suppression of grass weeds, compared to spring wheat which does not offer the same level of competitiveness.
“With regards to spring barley choices, Laureate remains the undoubted number one in the marketplace, outselling its competitors whilst offering dual-purpose end markets, as does LG Diablo but not as widely grown.
“RGT Planet will slip further as the newer options gain a greater share of the market. However, it will still have support from growers who have seen very consistent performance over the years.”
David adds that Skyway is fully approved for brewing, along with SY Tennyson. There are also several varieties currently under test for malting quality, including LG Aquarius, Nos Gambit, Belter, Nos Munron and Olsen.
As for feed varieties, both Westminister and Kelim still sell well, he says, but there is an argument that the malting varieties offer a better yield.
Spring wheat
“In the spring wheat sector, Mulika, KWS Harsum and KWS Ladum are the Group 1 offer, with the former, now under significant yield disadvantage,” David says.
“KWS Ladum has no major disease weaknesses, with high resistance to mildew, brown rust and Septoria tritici. It will be a major consideration for next spring. KWS Harsum has OWBM resistance.”
Both KWS Cochise and, to a lesser extent, KWS Chilham are Group 2 alternatives, he notes, with KWS Alicium offering the best yield in this area.
The largest market share is between WPB Escape and KWS Fixum, with the former being a late-maturing variety, which some may see as a limitation.
“It appears that KWS Fixum has no major disease weaknesses, with high resistance to yellow rust, mildew and brown rust,” David notes.
As for spring oats, WPB Isabel is the market leader, closely followed by Merlin. There is still support for Canyon within the sector, he explains.
“Essentially the key to growing spring oats is rainfall in June and timeliness of harvest,” he adds. “Conway is an early maturing option, while Asterion was newly added to the Recommended List last autumn, and has high untreated yields with good resistance to mildew.
“The end market will dictate the preferred variety in almost all the spring quality cereals.”
Pulses
Lynx still dominates the spring bean market, David says, but Genius is the highest-yielding variety on the Descriptive List. When it comes to mildew resistance, Yukon is reportedly the best for this and is early-maturing.
New options for this spring include Navara and LG Hawk, but neither competes with Genius for pure yield, he notes.
“Synergy is a new low-vicine and low-convicine variety (LVC) and is higher yielding than the other two LVC varieties, Futura and Victus,” David adds.
For peas, Concerto and Batist are the highest-yielding yellow varieties, while the blue pea sector is dominated by Carrington. David predicts that Bluetime will also be popular, while new variety Butterfly shows the depth of the LSPB portfolio.
As for white peas, Kameleon and Orchestra are the standouts, although this will depend on availability.
“A new pink pea category has been created for the Descriptive List to accommodate the new variety Flamingo from Cope Seeds & Grain,” he says.
“In trials, it was the lowest-yielding pea listed (78%), with specific end markets from uses for human consumption, to bird and pet feed.”
For marrowfats, Vision is a new addition with a downy mildew rating of 7 and the highest yield in the sector, whilst Sakura continues to show consistency. There is a 10%, David notes, but the quality premium could be a deciding factor.
“The overriding part of this summary is that key varieties will sell out, although as it stands the market itself probably will not,” he concludes.
