FOUR NEW winter wheats, two winter barleys, a quartet of winter oilseed rape varieties and a spring barley specifically for the north-east have joined the HGCA Recommended Lists for 2006/7.

Mascot is highly rated as a Group 2 breadmaking wheat yielding 2% less than Solstice but with better protein, according to RL technical manager Bill Handley.

Alchemy, a soft-milling Group 4 type, joins the list as joint top yielder, looking particularly useful as an early sown replacement for Consort and Claire, he believes.

Gatsby, another soft-milling Group 4, is specially recommended for its orange blossom midge resistance and is one of only three varieties on the list with a Septoria tritici resistance rating of seven.

Hyperion is specially recommended mainly on the strength of its good eyespot resistance and good specific weight. It too is a Group 4 soft-milling type.

Both new winter barleys are six-row varieties offering treated output 5% above Sequel and within 1% of top-yielding Colossus.

Colibri is a conventional type with good all round disease resistance but rather low specific weight.

Boost is a hybrid which stands better than Colossus and has better overall disease resistance.

Appaloosa, the sole spring barley list newcomer, has potential to produce malt for distilling and outyields Troon by 9%.

All four winter rape additions have similar gross output, just 1% below Lioness.

Excalibur and Es Betty are restored hybrids with similar agronomic features though the latter is susceptible to stem canker.

Barrel and NK Grace are conventional types, both slightly later maturing than the hybrid pair.