Spring beans look set to be in demand this season, as farmers try to reduce their nitrogen spend.

The nitrogen fixing crop is a beneficial break crop, but will need appropriate phosphorus and potassium applications.

Two new varieties have made it onto the Department of Agriculture’s recommended list of spring beans 2022.

Caprice and Victus are now provisionally recommended and join Fanfare and Lynx on the list.

Lynx remains the top variety on relative yield with a rating of 104, compared to Caprice and Victus’s ratings of 100 and Fanfare’s relative yield rating of 99.

Victus is significantly shorter than the other three varieties with a height of 126cm, compared to 134-136cm in the other varieties.

However, it scores just a 5 on brackling resistance, compared to ratings of 7 for Caprice and 8 for Lynx and Fanfare.

Not much separates the sides on lodging resistance. Caprice gains one point on an important trait, with a rating of 7 for earliness of maturity.

Both new varieties have a resistance rating of 7 for chocolate spot, compared to a rating of 6 in Fanfare and Lynx.

Victus falls slightly behind on downy mildew with a rating of 6, while Fanfare and Caprice score best for rust.

Fanfare

On the list since 2016, Fanfare is lowest for relative yield at 99, but rates high on crude protein content and has high resistance to brackling and lodging, with good resistance to chocolate spot, downy mildew and rust.

Lynx

Lynx tops the list on relative yield and has a slightly lower protein content than the other three varieties. It’s strong on brackling and lodging resistance and has good resistance to chocolate spot and downy mildew, but falls down on resistance to rust, with a score of 4.

Caprice

Caprice is good on protein content with a rating of 102. Relative yield is at 100. Lodging resistance is excellent at 9, while brackling falls to 7. It is best for earliness of maturity with a score of 7. It has good resistance to chocolate spot, downy mildew and rust.

Victus

Victus has a rating of 100 for relative yield and for crude protein. It is the shortest variety on the list but falls down a bit on its resistance to brackling. However, it has good resistance to lodging with a score of 8.

Resistance to chocolate spot and downy mildew is good, but the variety has a score of 4 for resistance to rust.

More attractive for animal feed

The varieties range in crude protein ratings from 99 to 102, while new variety Victus claims to be low in anti-nutritional compounds vicine and covicine, which can reduce feed conversion efficiency in animals. Beans high in these compounds generally require additional work in the feed mill, such as roasting. This could make Victus more attractive for inclusion in compound feeds.

Seed availability

Looking at seed availability for the season ahead, Lynx takes up the majority of the seed availability at approximately 58%. Fanfare follows with 15% of the seed availability, while Victus is at 14% and Caprice is at 13%.