Somerset grower Mark Doble was pleased with his spring bean harvest, as yields from the variety Yukon hit nearly 6t/ha.

The variety is the earliest  to mature on the Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO) Descriptive List and offers the highest downy mildew resistance rating, alongside a good thousand seed weight.

For Mr Doble, harvest of his 18ha crop commenced on 31 August at Hurcott Farm, near Ilminister, a good one to two weeks earlier than other spring bean varieties.

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Yukon yield

Three fields were planted across varying soil types at the farm, one of which was a medium loam that saw peak yields just shy of 6t/ha, average yields of 5.2t/ha and a specific weight of 86kg/hl.

The remaining two fields were planted on a sandy brash soil, which proved susceptible to weed invasion – mainly knotgrass and volunteer oilseed rape – which yielded less at 3.6-4t/ha.

Mr Doble grows a significant proportion of his crops for seed, and the Yukon beans were no different, so he hopes the weeds won’t cause too much of an issue.

The early-maturity score of 9 (measured on a scale from one to 10 where one is low and 10 is high) therefore comes in particularly handy when harvesting seed crops.

This helps ensure crops meet the specified moisture content of 16% or less, which was achieved this season.  

“As we head into September, the weather becomes more unsettled and nights are longer, which makes getting the right moisture content more challenging. Harvesting one to two weeks earlier helps us achieve this,” he says.

The variety also has good standing power and combined well. With the shortest straw length on the Descriptive List at 115cm, the crop stood strong throughout the growing season, with no lodging in sight.

“As it was the first time we grew the variety, combining it was fairly straightforward, but when the sun was out, the crop was notably easier to cut,” adds Mr Doble.

Something that was particularly notable about the variety was its golden-yellow colour as the crop died back, rather than the black colour beans usually develop.

This is caused by the varieties parentage and is where its name was derived- named after the Klondike Gold Rush (also called the Yukon Gold Rush) in Yukon, an area of north-western Canada.

The variety’s only drawback, says Mr Doble, is its lower yield potential (94%) compared with other cultivars, which range from 102-106%.

However, Chris Guest, managing director from LS Plant Breeding states: “Yukon is penalised in official trials due to its earliness hence why we believe on farm the variety will perform on par, if not better than many of its competitor varieties due to its disease resistance profile.”