A massive 84% of the seed in production for winter barley in Ireland next year is made up of BYDV-tolerant or -resistant varieties.

Orcade takes up 32% of the seed area at present, with KWS Joyau and Organa on 16% each and Integral on 14%.

Molly is still knocking around with 2% of the seed, while newer varieties Littoral, KWS Legendis and SY Kestrel all make up small percentages.

BYDV-tolerant and -resistant varieties now make up 12 of the 18 varieties on the recommended list trial with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine – one variety claims resistance to BYDV.

A total of 12 of the 18 varieties on the national list trial are BYDV-tolerant and one variety is resistant.

Winter wheat

In recent years, we have been reporting on possible winter wheat and spring barley varieties coming on to the market, but none have made it so far.

There is currently one coded variety of winter wheat, bred by KWS in the national list trial, but it must meet requirements in this trial before making it on to the recommended list.

Many winter wheat crops were hit badly by BYDV this year and in recent years. Mild winters, without hard frost, make it very difficult to control. Infection looks to be occurring at different times throughout the season.