Last year saw the addition of two Group 1 spring wheats to the AHDB Recommended List for 2022-23, while the very latest list for 2023-24 has seen another one join this market sector.

Ladum from KWS and Blackman Agriculture’s Nissaba were recommended last December.

Harsum, also from KWS, has just made the grade this year, bringing the total number of Group 1 spring wheat varieties to four.

All of the newcomers join Mulika, which has been the benchmark variety in this end-use group since 2011 and has a loyal following among millers and growers.

See also: Higher yields from new varieties may help offset cost rises

As Andrew Bourne, seeds manager at T Denne and Sons in Kent explains, the millers are keen for another Group 1 variety.

They are expected to take a closer look at spring wheats, following a decline in the area of Group 1 winter wheat plantings.

As a result, the new spring wheat varieties are an option where growers want to maintain their area of quality wheat.

The drilling date flexibility offered by them brings agronomic and workload benefits, as well as cost savings.

“Yield is often a secondary characteristic with spring wheats,” he says.

“They are being grown in wider rotations and to help with issues such as blackgrass and barley yellow dwarf virus control, as well as to serve quality markets.

“Importantly, in the current economic climate, growing costs are lower and their nitrogen-use efficiency is usually better than that of their winter counterparts.”

Mr Bourne says that “alternative” spring wheats are a contender when compared with high-risk winter varieties in later-sown situations.

He recommends that growers look at those with good protein conversion, orange wheat blossom midge resistance and a proven pedigree.

Spring 2023

Ladum © KWS

Of the two that have seed available for this year – Ladum from KWS and Nissaba from Blackman Agriculture – there is a yield differential in the Recommended List [RL] figures.

It shows Ladum on 102% and Nissaba on 94%, when sown in the spring.

However, there are other differences too, with Nissaba being the only one of the two to have resistance to orange wheat blossom midge – a characteristic that Mulika first introduced to quality spring wheats.

Although autumn-sown trials weren’t included in the RL work, Nissaba has an even wider sowing window.

Breeder John Blackman confirms that he is happy to see it drilled from early October through to spring.

“Nissaba is very winter-hardy,” he says. “You wouldn’t know it wasn’t a winter wheat, but it has no vernalisation requirement so can be sown in the spring. Where it is drilled earlier in the season, you will see a yield benefit.” 

Test baking carried out for a number of years shows that Nissaba also bakes very well at lower protein levels of 11.5-12%, he reveals, and compared with its parent, Mulika, it has stiffer straw, bigger grain and stronger gluten.

Ladum also performs well when sown in late autumn, stresses KWS, with the variety giving good performance and protein levels from sowing at the end of October until the third week of March.

“Ladum is short, stiff-strawed and early to harvest,” says Kirsty Richards, cereals product manager at KWS.

“It has a very high Hagberg of 324, a specific weight of 78kg/hl and a protein content of 13.2%, while its higher yield takes spring wheats to the next level.”

As yields and quality can match those of later sown winter wheats, new spring wheats such as Ladum are showing that they are robust, flexible and profitable, fitting the current mood, she adds.

Ladum also has a good all-round disease package, which includes an 8 for mildew, 7 for both brown rust and septoria, plus a 6 for yellow rust.

A Sywell x Talland cross, Ladum comes from the company’s UK spring wheat breeding programme.

“These spring wheats also have a carbon footprint advantage. They achieve relatively high levels of protein from a lower level of inputs – an important consideration for growers,” says Dr Richards.

Case Study: PC Kindred & Son, Suffolk

Alys Thompson © KWS

Newcomer Ladum was drilled immediately after sugar beet that had been lifted towards the end of November in 2021 on a farm in East Suffolk.

This makes it the first crop of the variety for PC Kindred & Son, which is operated by Alys and Graham Thompson.

The 440ha farm grows cereals for seed or to feed 320 breeding sows, so autumn-drilled barn fillers that offer yield and good disease resistance are preferred as their commercial wheat varieties.

However, that requirement is different where later-lifted sugar beet is in the rotation, with a quality spring wheat being a good following choice due to its wide sowing window.

Mulika has traditionally filled this slot, but the higher yield on offer from Ladum tempted Mrs Thompson to try 17ha of the new variety, which was drilled at a seed rate of 185kg/ha in late November.

The crop established well, she recalls, and withstood the drought conditions that subsequently developed in 2022.

The two fields yielded 9.6t/ha and 9.8t/ha when they were combined in early August.

It received a total of 188kg/ha of nitrogen, in four splits, and was the last crop to be harvested at Crabbes Farm.

“When lifting sugar beet in November and December on our clay soils, we do need the reassurance of a wide sowing window, which is why we grow spring wheat,” says Mrs Thompson.

“Our preference is to get it drilled straight after lifting, but we know that if conditions don’t allow that we can still sow it in the spring.”

Her early verdict on just two fields is that Ladum is a solid variety, with good disease resistance and grain quality.

“Our winter wheat yields were down in 2022 compared with our five-year average, due to lack of moisture, although the heavy land crops fared better.

“There were no signs of moisture stress in Ladum.”