Scottish cereal growers who aim for premium distilling markets will finally have new soft wheat varieties to choose from next season.
For the first time in four years AHDB has added new soft wheat varieties to its recommended lists (RL) for cereals and oilseeds.
Dr Simon Oxley, who heads AHDB’s crop production systems, says the new soft wheats offer “improved yields, first-rate septoria tritici resistance and earlier maturity”. He describes them as exciting varieties for northern growers aiming at distilling markets to consider.
“Feed growers in soft and hard feed markets will find varieties with a combination of high yield, early maturity, stiff straw and better septoria resistance,” he said.
Dr Oxley says the new entrants to the RL show good resistance to yellow rust, with ratings of 7 to 9.
He added: “The relative risk of these new varieties is low, providing confidence to early adopters of new varieties.
“For all varieties, new and old, the RL shows information from previous seasons, so there is always a chance risks may change. AHDB disease monitoring is important for identifying any changes that occur in the new season.”
Savello is described as a high-yielding group 4 soft feed variety for the north, suitable for distilling with a medium rating.
The recommendation states: “It has a high treated yield, with the advantage of being earlier maturing than both Leeds and Revelation.
“It is stiff-strawed and has good resistance to yellow rust (8) and mildew (7). Although susceptible to brown rust (4), this is of lower risk in most seasons in the north of the UK.”
The other new variety recommended for the north is high yielding and early maturing Hardwicke. It is suitable for distilling with a medium rating.
“It is stiff-strawed, early maturing, with good resistance to yellow rust (8), brown rust (6) and septoria tritici (5.9),” the recommendation states.
The list also introduces two new high-yielding nabim group 2 milling wheats, KWS Cochise and KWS Chilham.
Both are described as having the flexibility to be drilled in the autumn or spring, having orange wheat blossom midge resistance.
The new oilseed rape lists see advances in marrying high yields with superior disease resistance.
Dr Oxley said: “New varieties show excellent overall resistance to light leaf spot and phoma stem canker.
“Growers looking for top-notch resistance with opportunities for better-integrated disease management have a new semi-dwarf variety to consider in DK Secret.”
Feed barley producers can look forward to three new winter feed varieties. A two-row feed for the north called KWS Cresswell is described as a high-yielding early maturing two-row feed variety with stiff straw and good resistance to rhynchosporium (6), as well as resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus.
Three new spring barley varieties are under test for brewing, malt distilling and brewing, and grain distilling.
A total of 29 new varieties have been added to the list for 2017-18 and 28 have been removed.
Summaries of the new AHDB recommended lists are available on the AHDB website at
cereals.ahdb.org.uk/varieties
.
nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk
