Ave yields up in NIAB treated w wheat trials
Ave yields up in NIAB treated w wheat trials
A WINTER wheat first recommended in the 1980s has matched the second highest yielding variety in official trials harvested to date.
Average yields in NIAB fungicide treated winter wheat trials to date are over 1t/ha (0.4t/acre) better than last year. With 14 of the 24 UK sites harvested, average yield is 9.89t/ha (4t/acre) against the 1994-98 mean of 9.73t/ha (3.9t/acre).
Disease and extensive lodging drove untreated yields, at 5.5t/ha (2.2t/acre), over 2t/ha (0.8t/acre) below the long term mean, according to the latest issue of VarPlan 99.
Top performer in treated trials is Savannah, consistently high yielding at all sites and bettering its long term mean, which was already 2% better than all others, by 3%.
Joint next best this year, so far, are Equinox and Riband, the latter first listed in 1989 showing the biggest improvement of all on its long term mean. Closely following are Consort, Harrier and Madrigal.
Cereals specialist Richard Fenwick cannot account for Ribands unusual performance. "Some seasons just seem to suit some varieties," he ventures.
Varieties doing markedly less well than previously are Soissons and Abbot, 5% and 4% off their 1994-98 averages. "This is the second relatively poor year for provisionally recommended bread-maker Abbot. It still outyields Hereward but looks increasingly uncompetitive," says Mr Fenwick.
Rialto, 3% down, has also disappointed, with low Hagbergs and several cases of ergot. It also seems to have suffered more from lodging, he notes. Others standing less well than expected include Abbot, Equinox, Savannah and Soissons. But Madrigal stood very well. *
YELLOW RUST
Provisional yellow rust ratings remain much as last year. Consorts score goes up from 7 to 9, reflecting the absence of a repeat of infection seen in artificially inoculated trials in 1994, explains pathologist Rosemary Bayles. Last year Equinox and Madrigal both scored four – this year their ratings are five and three, respectively.
Winter wheat fungicide treated
Variety Current 5 year Interim mean mean 94-98 yield 98
t/ha t/ha
Control 9.68 9.89
Recommended varieties
Reaper 102 103
Hussar 102 101
Rialto 103 100
Consort 102 104
Riband 100 105
Hereward 93 92
Spark 93 91
Buster 100 98
Soissons 94 89
Savannah 106 109
Harrier 104 104
Madrigal 104 104
Equinox 103 105
Charger 102 103
Abbot 98 94
Brigadier 103 103
Beaufort 102 –
Cadenza 96 95
Caxton 97 99
Candidate varieties
Cantata 102 100
Aardvark 103 103
Buchan 102 101
Claire 102 103
Malacca 97 100
Shamrock 98 96
Shango 101 103
Other varieties
Blaze 105 104
Chaucer 102 103
Maverick 104 101