There is somewhat of a shortage of winter wheat varieties at present as varieties which had Cougar in their parentage were taken out of trial, as the variety broke down against septoria.
As a result, only six varieties are fully recommended at present and there is no seed for two of these varieties – Costello and SY Insitor – for the season ahead.
However, new varieties are on the way.
Graham remains the main variety on the list with 47% of the seed availability for the 2023-24 season.
KWS Dawsum winter wheat.
KWS Dawsum, which is provisionally recommended currently, follows with 27% of the seed.
KWS Dawsum is a good variety on rust, while it is not as strong on septoria.
Champion winter wheat. \ Philip Doyle
Champion will take up 17% of the seed availability. It has not yet made it on to the provisionally recommended list, but this year it looks good in the fields, with big leaves. It scores a seven for resistance to septoria and rust and hit a relative yield of 104 in trial last year.
Spearhead makes up just 4% of the seed. It is fully recommended and continues to look good in trials. A comment from the Department of Agriculture’s Graham Byrne was that it remained very clean up to a month ago, when the real pressure hit.
Fitzroy is another one that looked very good in Kildalton College, where the Irish Seed Trade Association’s open day took place at the Department’s trial site.
Its prominent green colour stood out and this is no surprise with Stigg in its parentage.
Stigg was a very clean variety from a few years ago, which didn’t cut the mustard on other characteristics. Fitzroy had a relative yield of 100 last year and looked well among the plots.
Fitzroy winter wheat. \ Philip Doyle
Mayflower is a variety that stood out massively last year, with the untreated plots looking very clean.
Mayflower winter wheat.
The variety is good on both septoria and yellow rust. Its relative yield was 93 last season.
Another one to look out for is still in the numbers stage – R0163 – but was reported to be clean on all Department trial sites with a high resistance to septoria and yellow rust.
Brendan Reilly taking a picture of a winter wheat variety at the Department of Agriculture's trials at the Irish Seed Trade Association's open day in Kildalton College. \ Philip Doyle
There is somewhat of a shortage of winter wheat varieties at present as varieties which had Cougar in their parentage were taken out of trial, as the variety broke down against septoria.
As a result, only six varieties are fully recommended at present and there is no seed for two of these varieties – Costello and SY Insitor – for the season ahead.
However, new varieties are on the way.
Graham remains the main variety on the list with 47% of the seed availability for the 2023-24 season.
KWS Dawsum winter wheat.
KWS Dawsum, which is provisionally recommended currently, follows with 27% of the seed.
KWS Dawsum is a good variety on rust, while it is not as strong on septoria.
Champion winter wheat. \ Philip Doyle
Champion will take up 17% of the seed availability. It has not yet made it on to the provisionally recommended list, but this year it looks good in the fields, with big leaves. It scores a seven for resistance to septoria and rust and hit a relative yield of 104 in trial last year.
Spearhead makes up just 4% of the seed. It is fully recommended and continues to look good in trials. A comment from the Department of Agriculture’s Graham Byrne was that it remained very clean up to a month ago, when the real pressure hit.
Fitzroy is another one that looked very good in Kildalton College, where the Irish Seed Trade Association’s open day took place at the Department’s trial site.
Its prominent green colour stood out and this is no surprise with Stigg in its parentage.
Stigg was a very clean variety from a few years ago, which didn’t cut the mustard on other characteristics. Fitzroy had a relative yield of 100 last year and looked well among the plots.
Fitzroy winter wheat. \ Philip Doyle
Mayflower is a variety that stood out massively last year, with the untreated plots looking very clean.
Mayflower winter wheat.
The variety is good on both septoria and yellow rust. Its relative yield was 93 last season.
Another one to look out for is still in the numbers stage – R0163 – but was reported to be clean on all Department trial sites with a high resistance to septoria and yellow rust.
Brendan Reilly taking a picture of a winter wheat variety at the Department of Agriculture's trials at the Irish Seed Trade Association's open day in Kildalton College. \ Philip Doyle
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