The 22 new varieties on the AHDB recommended lists for cereals and oilseeds 2018/2019 continue to demonstrate genetic improvements in yield, disease resistance and grain quality.

The new entries are spread across the different crop categories, as are the removals, but winter oilseed rape, winter wheat and spring barley account for the bulk of the varieties that have been removed (see Table 1).

Three new spring barley varieties

Three new barley varieties have been added. These are LG Diablo, LG Tomahawk and RGT Asteroid. All three are being evaluated for their suitability in different parts of the brewing/distilling industries. The varieties which have been removed from the list are Octavia, Odyssey, Belgravia, LG Opera and Dioptric.

According to AHDB senior crop scientist Jenna Watts, “there are now three very high performing new varieties on the list. LG Diablo, which yields strongly in the north and is under test for brewing and malt distilling, LG Tomahawk, which also yields very highly and is undergoing testing for malt distilling, and RGT Asteroid, which is being tested for brewing, malt distilling and grain distilling. These all compare favourably with Concerto and Laureate in terms of yield and agronomic features”.

In fungicide-treated trials in the north region, it would appear that LG Diablo is particularly well suited. In these trials, LG Diablo ended up with a yield rating of 109 compared with the controls. LG Tomahawk yielded 107% of the control varieties and RGT Asteroid comes in at 102%. In comparison, the recently approved Laureate has a yield rating of 105 in the north and Concerto is down at 93%.

All three have also yielded well in the overall UK untreated grain yield, which indicates a certain level of robustness for a difficult season. But one must wonder why LG Diablo and LG Tomahawk had such relatively poor yields in the west region.

Agronomic characteristics are pretty much average. All three are rated seven for lodging, but Tomahawk has relatively short straw towards the others and is also short in comparison with most other varieties on the list. All three are middle of the road on brackling.

The three show excellent resistance to mildew. On yellow rust, Diablo would be regarded as moderately susceptible, while the other two have good resistance. Resistance to brown rust is not so good though, with Diablo and Asteroid rated as moderately susceptible and Tomahawk as susceptible.

All three are about average on rhynchosporium and ramularia. Diablo and Tomahawk show moderate resistance to ramularia, while RGT Asteroid is rated as resistant. And on rhynchosporium, Tomahawk and Asteroid are regarded as moderately resistant, while Diablo is moderately susceptible.

The 2018 recommended list, inclusive of the new entries, is shown in Table 2. This shows the performance of all the recommended varieties with regard to yield in different regions, grain quality, disease and straw ratings, etc.

It is also worth noting that protein levels are on the low side compared with the other malting varieties recommended.

This could prove to be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the specific targets required for specific markets. And the low protein characteristic may need to be balanced against the choice of fields, rotation slot, or nitrogen amount.

While the numbers look satisfactory for these three new entrants, Jenna Watts warned that these are still new varieties and have to be proven in the field.

“It’s now really a case of wait and see,” she said. “The newest varieties clearly have potential, but they are still under test.”

Spring oats recommended list

There is one new recommended variety on the spring oat list, plus two new described varieties of naked oats which are not yet recommended. The new husked oat is Delfin and Oliver and Kamil are naked oats (no husk on the harvested grain). One husked oat variety has been dropped – Atego.

Delfin is the highest yielding spring oat husked variety, both treated and untreated with fungicide. Its kernel content is on the low side of the varieties recommended, but its specific weight is good.

It has tall straw, but with good lodging resistance on stiff straw. It is said to have very good resistance to mildew (nine), but the limited data available to date suggests it may be susceptible to crown rust ([4]).

The two new described naked spring oat varieties are Oliver and Kamil. Both of these have much lower grain yield, very good specific weight, but screenings are high and the husk is removed. Straw strength and length are about average, but they are both on the susceptible side to mildew and crown rust.

Specific variety details for all the recommended and described varieties are shown in Table 3. This table also shows the relative variety yield in each of the years between 2013 and 2017. Significant variance in individual variety performance from year to year would not be taken a good characteristic.

Spring wheat varieties

There was no new spring wheat variety added for 2018, but one variety, Tybalt, jas been discontinued. There are seven varieties recommended – Mulika, KWS Cochise, KWS Chilham, KWS Willow, Granary, KWS Alderon and KWS Kilburn. Mulika is a group one milling wheat; KWS Cochise, KWS Chilham, KWS Willow and Granary are group two wheats; KWS Alderon and KWS Kilburn are group three varieties.

Agronomic and other details for the recommended varieties are shown in Table 4. This shows that there is significant yield penalty associated with high quality, which necessitates high milling premiums to make it worthwhile.