Plant breeder Limagrain claimed a triple win in the new AHDB Recommended Lists with the top-yielding winter wheat variety, the highest yielding two-row winter barley and the leading trait-loaded oilseed rape variety.

The group saw its new soft feed winter wheat Redwald overtaking last year’s top yielder Champion, while its two-row feed winter barley Caravelle pipped  previous top yielder Tardis, and Attica was the number one oilseed rape with key pod shatter and Turnip Yellow Virus (TuYV) resistance traits.

On the wheat side, Will Charlton, UK marketing manager for arable seeds at the group, says Redwald with its fungicide-treated yield of 107% is building on the group’s success with fellow soft feed wheat Skyscraper, which was top yielder for three years on the RL before being overtaken by Champion.

“Skyscraper had a 10% share of the market at its peak, and we see Redwald being easily as big,” he tells a briefing, and adds that there should be enough seed available for autumn 2023 drilling to take a 3-4% share of the certified seed market.

See also: Read more detail on the Recommended List

Redwald

The wheat variety was the highest yielder in three years of RL official trials, and was the top yielder grown as a second wheat, as well as top in both the East and West regions.

The variety has multi-gene resistance – from older variety Sundance – to wheat’s most damaging disease, septoria, with a resistance score of 6.7, and a yellow rust rating of 7 in a 1-9 scale where 1 is very susceptible and 9 shows good resistance.

The variety also exhibits orange wheat blossom midge resistance.

It has moderate straw strength, slightly weaker than Skyscraper, and a moderate specific weight score, similar to Champion.

Top two-row variety

New two-row winter barley Caravelle broke 10 years of dominance by KWS varieties at the top of the RL, with a fungicide-treated yield of 107% ahead of last year’s top two-rower Tardis at 103%, and matching the top-yielding hybrid six-row, Thunderbolt, at 107%.

Two-row varieties currently account for 75% of the winter barley market.

“This is an outstanding variety and is set to become the number one two-row,” says Mr Charlton, adding that there should be plenty of seed available for autumn 2023 drilling to take 10% of the seed market.

The variety has good disease resistance scores, with a 6 for rhynchosporium and a 7 for mildew, and a high specific weight of 71.8kg/hl. It is early maturing in line with Tardis and has a good straw strength.

Two key traits

On the oilseed rape side, the hybrid Attica is the joint-highest variety for gross output with a full UK recommendation, and the top variety with the two key traits of pod shatter resistance and TuYV resistance.

Mr Charlton predicts it will become the biggest oilseed rape variety for drilling in summer 2024, while there should be enough seed to account for 5-10% of the certified seed market for drilling in summer 2023.

In addition, another new variety, Wagner, is the new highest yielder in the north region, again with the two key traits, and also with short, stiff stems. Both Attica and Wagner are rated 7 for light leaf spot resistance.