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This is the time of year when farmers select the best varieties to suit each farm. When choosing a seed variety, it is important to look at the following: rotation, site, yield, resistance to disease especially mildew, rhynchosporium, brown rust and net blotch, we also need to think of KPH and the quality of the grain.
Variety selection should start at the DAFM recommended list, new edition 2021 included, where varieties need to have a minimum of three years’ trials to get on this list.
There are no new additions to the winter barley recommended list for the 2020/2021 season and one variety Quadra has been removed from DAFM list. Both LG Castings and Valerie remain provisionally recommended this year. There is however a new verity in the marketthat is currently going through DAFM test, Year 3 2021, which will see it being introduced as provisionally recommended for 2022 season unless something unforeseen happens; that is a conventional 6 Row variety called KWS Joyau. The attraction of this variety is that it offers strong tolerance to BYVD and therefore will be considered as an ideal variety for planting early in the season or in known high risk areas. It has a low scoring for mildew at 5 and care will need to be taken in this case. The control varieties have been amended from Cassia/Tower/Quadra to Cassia/Infinity/Belfry. As a result, the reference yield of 100 has increased by 0.28t/ha (3%) and this has raised the bar for all varieties, resulting in a downward rating for most varieties.
Bazooka
An early maturing hybrid six-row variety with very high yield potential. Very long straw with moderate resistance to lodging. Moderately susceptible to straw breakdown. Very good resistance to Rhynchosporium. Moderate resistance to brown rust and mildew. Good resistance to net blotch. Small grain size with a good hectolitre weight.
Belfry
An early maturing hybrid six-row variety with very high yield potential. Long straw with good resistance to lodging and moderate resistance to straw breakdown. Very good resistance to Rhynchosporium. Moderate resistance to mildew. Good resistance to brown rust and net blotch. Small grain size with a good hectolitre weight.
KWS Cassia
A moderately early maturing two-row variety. Short straw with good resistance to lodging and moderate resistance to straw breakdown. Moderately susceptible to mildew and susceptible to Rhynchosporium. Good resistance to brown rust and net blotch. Very good grain quality with a very good hectolitre weight.
KWS Infinity
A moderately early maturing two-row variety. Short straw with good resistance to lodging and moderate resistance to straw breakdown. Moderately susceptible to mildew. Good resistance to Rhynchosporium and net blotch. Moderate resistance to brown rust. Large grain size with good grain quality.
KWS Kosmos
An early maturing six-row conventional variety with very high yield potential. Long straw with moderate resistance to lodging. Susceptible to straw breakdown. Very good resistance to mildew. Good resistance to brown rust, net blotch and Rhynchosporium. Reasonable hectoliter weight.
Pixel
A very early maturing conventional six-row variety with very high yield potential. Moderately short straw with good resistance to lodging. Susceptible to straw breakdown. Susceptible to Rhynchosporium. Good resistance to mildew and brown rust. Moderate resistance to net blotch. Small grain size with a good hectolitre weight.
LG Casting
An early maturing two-row variety with high yield potential. Short straw and moderately susceptible to lodging and straw breakdown. Moderately susceptible to Rhynchosporium. Good resistance to brown rust and net blotch. Very good resistance to mildew. Good hectoliter weight.
Valerie
A very early maturing two row-variety. Short straw with moderate resistance to lodging and straw breakdown. Good resistance to brown rust, mildew, net botch and Rhynchosporium. Very good grain quality with a large grain size and a very good hectolitre weight.
The 1000 grain weight on all recommendation sheets is a 3-year average and one should always take the calculable figure from the actual seed purchased as stated on each pack.
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Also, we have included the 2019/20 recommended list for both Winter Oats and Winter Wheat as the 2020 /21 list wasn’t available when this article was going to print. In any case I’m reliably informed that there aren’t any major changes to it for the coming season and I sure that growers are well aware of both the strong and weak points of all verities still , particularly after the testing year that they have just being through.
Winter Oats
Husky and WPB Isabel will again be the two main varieties this year with over 95% of the seed. Husky have been the most popular variety grown with a superior hardness score. The variety Isabel survived extremely well during stormy conditions over the past few months.
HUSKY: Fully recommended variety which is now the largest variety grown in Ireland at almost 60% of the acreage planted. White oats with good KPH and kernel content when sown both in winter and spring. Most popular variety for autumn sowing due to a superior winter hardiness score. Early maturing, moderately resistant to mildew, but prone to crown rust.
WPB ISABEL: Exciting new spring oat variety from Wirsum Plant breeding which in over 30 years of trialling by Goldcorp, is the first variety which has consistently out-performed Barra on grain quality attributes. ISABEL is a Husky cross also boasts very high yield potential together with excellent straw strength and lodging resistance. It also displays good disease resistance making it an all-round very interesting proposition. Now included on both Winter and Spring Rec Lists where is stands out on all agronomic traits – yield, straw strength, disease resistance, grain quality. Good choice for organic growers also.
Winter Wheat
There are very little changes to the wheat varieties this year. The three big varieties are Bennington, Costello, and Graham. As a rule, you should go for a high yielding variety which has good resistance to disease and lodging with good hectolitre weight.
GRAHAM: It is the highest yielding wheat and has the best overall disease package available. It really impressed growers this year as it did not get yellow rust in the spring, maintained its green canopy when Septoria came into crops in July and has turned out some exceptional yields on farms. During the poor weather rain and storms, it would have lost some heads. An added benefit of GRAHAM is it is a slow developer so is suitable for reasonably early drilling.
COSTELLO: Solid variety from KWS UK which ticks so many boxes on robustness and reliability even though it’s not the highest yielding wheat variety available. 2nd most popular variety growing this year taking 22% market share. Boasts exceptional specific weight / grain quality – 77.5KPH on Irish Rec List 2020. Good overall disease resistance including mildew, yellow rust and fusarium. Needs attention for septoria. Best resistance to sprouting on the Rec List – could make it a banker variety in a wet harvest.
JB DEAGO: A moderately early maturing variety with moderate resistance to lodging and good resistance to straw breakdown. Moderately resistant to mildew and fusarium. Susceptible to septoria tritici and yellow rust. Good resistance to sprouting. Good grain quality with a good hectolitre weight
TORP: A high yielding, moderately late maturing variety. Good resistance to lodging and moderate resistance to straw breakdown. Good resistance to septoria tritici. Moderately susceptible to yellow rust and mildew. Susceptible to fusarium and moderately resistant to sprouting. Moderate grain quality with a low hectolitre weight.
KWS CONROS: A moderately late maturing variety with very good resistance to lodging and straw breakdown. Very good resistance to mildew and yellow rust and moderately susceptible to septoria tritici. Good resistance to sprouting and moderate resistance to fusarium. Low thousand grain weight with a good hectolitre weight.
SY Insitor : A very high yielding moderately early maturing variety with good resistance to lodging and moderately resistant to straw breakdown. Good resistance to mildew. Moderately susceptible to Septoria tritici. Good resistance to yellow rust. Moderately resistant to fusarium ear blight. Susceptible to sprouting. Good hectolitre weight.
