HGCA recommended list for 2014/15
Some 25 new varieties are being added to the new HGCA Recommended List for cereals and oilseed rape showing increased yields and disease resistance ratings.
The new 2014-15 list will help growers target specific markets and assist with pest and disease control, the HGCA says. Some 23 varieties were removed from the list.
“The new varieties added to the lists push yields forward but care has been taken to provide a good choice for growers looking for varieties with specific agronomic characteristics which can help maximise the potential of their farm,” says HGCA’s Simon Oxley who manages the Recommended Lists.
Winter wheat
Eight new winter wheats are joining the HGCA Recommended List with the highlights being a new high-yielding breadwheat Skyfall and a top performing feed wheat Evolution.
Skyfall shows a yield 4% above the next highest yielding Group 1 breadmaking wheat Crusoe, and equal with the popular feed wheat variety Diego.
The variety from French breeder RAGT shows a good range of disease resistance and the highest specific weight within Group 1 bread wheats.
Simon Howell, RAGT’s UK managing director, describes the variety as a game-changer due to its high yield which is on a par with feed wheats while it has shown strong interest from the milling industry.
The group’s UK wheat breeder Celia Bequain says its agronomics are very strong with scores of 6 for septoria, yellow rust, eyespot and mildew resistance and 8 for brown rust, along with good fusarium resistance.
“From our trialling across Europe, where disease pressure is much higher, Skyfall’s high level of resistance to fusarium is clearly observed,” she says.
It also has resistance to orange wheat blossom midge and carries the Pch1 eyespot resistance gene.
Two new Group 2 milling varieties were added the list, Cubanita from Swiss group Syngenta and Cashel from German breeder KWS.
Cubanita yields 2% more than Chilton and is stiff-straw with similar maturity to Solstice.
Cashel was selected as a special variety providing consistently strong gluten quality which is usually a characteristic that has to be imported into Britain.
“It has attracted strong interest from UK millers because of its very strong gluten which means it could well suit specialist uses,” said Julie Goult, KWS commercial manager.
In the Group 3 biscuit category, French breeder Limagrain has Zulu and RAGT has Icon entering the list, with the former showing high resistance to yellow rust and eyespot, and also orange wheat blossom midge.
Icon has high resistance to yellow rust and mildew, and good potential for distilling.
Over in the feed wheat camp, Evolution made it to the new list with a yield which beats current market leader Santiago.
The variety bred in Denmark by Sejet is brought to Britain by Limagrain and has particularly good resistance against yellow and brown rusts for a Group 4 hard feed wheat.
“This puts Evolution at the very top of the Group 4 hard wheats category,” says Ed Flatman, senior wheat breeder with Limagrain.
The French breeder also saw its Panacea make the list which will offer growers a soft feed wheat with a yield comparable with the hard feed wheats which have dominated the feed market.
Twister is another soft Group 4 wheat and is the highest yielder in this category for the northern region, 1% ahead of last year’s leading variety, Leeds.
Bred by French group Momont and sold in Britain through KWS, the variety is said to excel on light land and does equally well in first and second wheat positions.
Five winter wheat varieties namely Sterling, Podium, Einstein, Gravitas and Denman were removed from the List.
Spring wheat
The only variety added to the list is Kilburn from KWS which has the highest fungicide treated and untreated yield on the list and has good resistance to the rusts and septoria.
Winter barley
Three new winter feed varieties were added to list, namely Tower from KWS, Tetris from Syngenta and Cavalier from Limagrain.
Tower is a high yielding variety with stiff straw, Tetris is also high yielding with tall straw and good resistance to rhynchosporium, while Cavalier is recommended for the northern region.
Four varieties were removed from the list namely Joy, Mezmaar, Soloman and Suzuka.
Spring barley
Five spring barley varieties make it onto the list, four with malting potential and one feed variety.
Irina and Aurelia are from KWS with the former being high yielding with good resistance to mildew and ramularia, while the second is also high yielding but is susceptible to rhynchosporium.
The other two potential malters include Shaloo from Syngenta and Hacker available through distributors Agrii.
Shaloo is stiff-strawed and has good resistance to mildew and rhynchosporium while Hacker is lower yielding but is early maturing than the other three potential brewing varieties.
The feed variety Shada from Syngenta was added to the list and tops the table for treated and untreated yields. It is stiff straw but is late maturing.
Two spring barley were removed from the list – Shuffle and Chronicle.
Winter and spring oats
Two new winter oats varieties both from Senova, Rhapsody and Beacon, were added to the list while two new spring oats Monaco and Conway, again from Senova, were added.
One winter oat variety Tardis and the spring oat variety Ascot were removed.
Winter oilseed rape
There were four new winter oilseed rape varieties for the East-West region and one for the North added to the new list.
From German breeder DSV, Incentive is a high-yielding restored hybrid variety which tops the yields in both regions, and is added to both East/West and North lists.
It has good resistance to light leaf spot but attention will be required to manage phoma stem canker.
Harper is the first variety to make the Recommended Lists for Bayer CropScience. It is a restored hybrid with excellent resistance to phoma and light leaf spot.
The other two varieties are conventionally pollinated varieties, Charger and Trinity.
The first from KWS is stiff stemmed but is said to require attention to manage phoma and light leaf spot, while Trinity from Elsoms has good resistance to phoma and light leaf spot.
Six varieties were removed from the East/West list – Excalibur, Dimension, Flash, Thorin, Eraton and V1410L, and six from the northern region – Shot, Raptor, Fashion, Excalibur, Flash and PT208.
