The Irish Seed Trade Association held its annual open day in June in conjunction with the Department’s crop variety evaluation team in Backweston. Large crowds of industry representatives and farmers attended the event to view the performance of the current crop varieties and to get a glimpse of those coming through the system. This article looks at varieties and seed availability for the upcoming planting season.
A few new winter wheats
JB Diego is set to provide just under 39% of certified seed available for 2017, followed by Costello, Avatar and Torp (see Figure 1). Costello, which was added as provisionally recommended last year, boasts high resistance to rust, fusarium and mildew, as well as lodging, sprouting and node breakage (brackling).
Another addition to the list last year with provisional recommendation was Rockefeller. While this is also not very high yielding it has good all-round disease resistance to date. It is tall but later maturing and there is a small amount of seed available for this year.
Garrus is also provisionally recommended. It is rated as very resistant to mildew, moderately resistant to septoria and fusarium, moderately susceptible to yellow rust and susceptible to sprouting. However, Garrus was decimated by yellow rust in untreated plots this year.
Torp, a candidate for recommendation, delivered high yields in trials and displayed good resistance to septoria and mildew but poor resistance to brown rust and fusarium. Brown rust could be seen sneaking into treated plots at other sites around the country.
Bennington, a newly recommended variety in the UK, is another candidate for recommendation. It has shown moderate resistance to septoria but some susceptibility to yellow rust and mildew. It has had reasonably high yields in trials and has excellent brackling resistance.There is a small amount of seed available.
KWS Barny has also done two years in official trials and shown good yield potential. It has moderate susceptibility to septoria, yellow rust and mildew.
Other varieties coming through trials in the seed houses in Ireland include Conros, KWS Zyatt, LG Tatoo and a clean numbered offering from Seedtech called LG130.
A few new spring wheat potentials
Avonmore is the only new candidate spring wheat variety. It has yielded very well in trials in recent years and hit 12t/ha at some sites.
The key varieties to watch out for, which are in their second year of official trials, include KWS Mistral, which has yielded reasonably well so far and has shown to be moderately resistant to mildew and rust, and KWS Chilham (a Sparrow derivative), which has also yielded very well but lodging was an issue last year.
Two-rows dominate winter barley
Cassia, Tower and Infinity will be the main two-row winter barley varieties again this year (see Figure 2). Between them they account for a potential 74% of seed availability for 2017 planting. Cassia’s rhyncho and mildew ratings continue to be challenging for growers and these must be watched.
On the six-row side, the candidate variety KWS Funky, which was featured in Cereals as a high-yielding variety, has proved inconsistent in terms of yield in Ireland. KWS Kosmos, another six-row candidate variety, has a high yield potential with reasonable grain quality and has shown good resistance to mildew. It has 6% of certified seed available for 2017 and is a candidate for recommendation.
The six-row hybrids Bazooka and Belfry are in their second year of official trials and have proved promising with high yields and strong standing ability. However, mildew was a problem this year. There’s a small amount of seed available for these varieties this year.
There is also some seed available for Belfry, Carneval and Escardia, as well as the hybrids Quadra and Bazooka. There is no seed availability for Volume.
Change in spring barley make-up
On the spring barley front, Propino, Paustian, Mickle, Irina and Sanette are recommended this year, although some say that there will be no seed available for the latter two in 2018. Planet, known for its early vigour, high yield potential and weakness on straw strength and brackling, was provisionally recommended this year.
The key candidate varieties to look out for are Gangway and Hacker. Gangway has been a top yielder in trials, scores high for lodging and brackling resistance and has shown good disease resistance thus far. Hacker, which is on the UK list and was recently on show at Cereals, has good yield with good straw strength and lodging/brackling resistance.
Promising varieties entering their second year of trials include Cantton and Prospect, both having yielded very well and displayed good brackling/disease resistance.
Olympus and Laureate are two new varieties on the recommended malting barley list which haven’t yet made it to the spring barley recommended list.
Laureate, a British variety, is high-yielding and has excellent disease resistance but is quite susceptible to lodging and brackling. Olympus is quite similar to Laureate, with excellent all-round disease resistance, reasonable yield potential but very susceptible to brackling.
Grain skinning was a big quality issue in 2016. While the causes are not fully understood, weather and harvest date are known to have an impact. Working on a 5% skinning threshold, the crop variety evaluation team assessed varieties in 2016 for the level of skinning present.
They found that Gangway and Sienna had the lowest occurrence of grain skinning followed by Cantton, Limon, Wylanda and Mickle. The varieties with the highest skinning rejections were Planet, Sanette and Propino. This was the first year that such an assessment was done so it will be a few years before formal details can be made available.
Three winter oat candidates
There are three candidate varieties for the 2018 winter oat recommended list. These are Keely, Avanti and Montrose. Keely has been a consistently good yielder in trials but has shown to be moderately susceptible to rusts and mildew. But it has a very high KPH and so it is interesting. There is a small amount of seed available.
Avanti is a high-yielding variety in trials and has good resistance to crown rust and mildew. However, it is a later-maturing variety. Montrose is another strong-yielding variety that is currently on the UK recommended list.
However, there is no seed available for Avanti or Montrose this year and so they are unlikely to be recommended.
Indications are that Husky will account for almost 60% of certified seed, with Barra and Keely accounting for the balance (see Figure 3).
Two spring oat candidates
Barra, first introduced in 1985, remains a significant variety on both the winter and spring recommended lists. While it has long been surpassed in terms of grain yield, disease resistance, standing power and brackling resistance, it still sets the standard for hectolitre weight.
The key candidate varieties to look out for are Benny and Delfin. Benny has yielded quite well in recent years but is moderately susceptible to crown rust. Delfin is the highest yielder on the list and has shown good resistance to mildew. However, it is also moderately susceptible to crown rust.
Candidate varieties continue to appear for consideration to be included on the recommended lists.Torp, Bennington and Barny are being considered for the winter wheat list with Avonmore an option for the spring wheat list.Gangway and Hacker are being considered for the spring barley list along with Kosmos winter barley.Benny and Delfin are in with a shout for the spring oat list, along with Keely for the winter list.
The Irish Seed Trade Association held its annual open day in June in conjunction with the Department’s crop variety evaluation team in Backweston. Large crowds of industry representatives and farmers attended the event to view the performance of the current crop varieties and to get a glimpse of those coming through the system. This article looks at varieties and seed availability for the upcoming planting season.
A few new winter wheats
JB Diego is set to provide just under 39% of certified seed available for 2017, followed by Costello, Avatar and Torp (see Figure 1). Costello, which was added as provisionally recommended last year, boasts high resistance to rust, fusarium and mildew, as well as lodging, sprouting and node breakage (brackling).
Another addition to the list last year with provisional recommendation was Rockefeller. While this is also not very high yielding it has good all-round disease resistance to date. It is tall but later maturing and there is a small amount of seed available for this year.
Garrus is also provisionally recommended. It is rated as very resistant to mildew, moderately resistant to septoria and fusarium, moderately susceptible to yellow rust and susceptible to sprouting. However, Garrus was decimated by yellow rust in untreated plots this year.
Torp, a candidate for recommendation, delivered high yields in trials and displayed good resistance to septoria and mildew but poor resistance to brown rust and fusarium. Brown rust could be seen sneaking into treated plots at other sites around the country.
Bennington, a newly recommended variety in the UK, is another candidate for recommendation. It has shown moderate resistance to septoria but some susceptibility to yellow rust and mildew. It has had reasonably high yields in trials and has excellent brackling resistance.There is a small amount of seed available.
KWS Barny has also done two years in official trials and shown good yield potential. It has moderate susceptibility to septoria, yellow rust and mildew.
Other varieties coming through trials in the seed houses in Ireland include Conros, KWS Zyatt, LG Tatoo and a clean numbered offering from Seedtech called LG130.
A few new spring wheat potentials
Avonmore is the only new candidate spring wheat variety. It has yielded very well in trials in recent years and hit 12t/ha at some sites.
The key varieties to watch out for, which are in their second year of official trials, include KWS Mistral, which has yielded reasonably well so far and has shown to be moderately resistant to mildew and rust, and KWS Chilham (a Sparrow derivative), which has also yielded very well but lodging was an issue last year.
Two-rows dominate winter barley
Cassia, Tower and Infinity will be the main two-row winter barley varieties again this year (see Figure 2). Between them they account for a potential 74% of seed availability for 2017 planting. Cassia’s rhyncho and mildew ratings continue to be challenging for growers and these must be watched.
On the six-row side, the candidate variety KWS Funky, which was featured in Cereals as a high-yielding variety, has proved inconsistent in terms of yield in Ireland. KWS Kosmos, another six-row candidate variety, has a high yield potential with reasonable grain quality and has shown good resistance to mildew. It has 6% of certified seed available for 2017 and is a candidate for recommendation.
The six-row hybrids Bazooka and Belfry are in their second year of official trials and have proved promising with high yields and strong standing ability. However, mildew was a problem this year. There’s a small amount of seed available for these varieties this year.
There is also some seed available for Belfry, Carneval and Escardia, as well as the hybrids Quadra and Bazooka. There is no seed availability for Volume.
Change in spring barley make-up
On the spring barley front, Propino, Paustian, Mickle, Irina and Sanette are recommended this year, although some say that there will be no seed available for the latter two in 2018. Planet, known for its early vigour, high yield potential and weakness on straw strength and brackling, was provisionally recommended this year.
The key candidate varieties to look out for are Gangway and Hacker. Gangway has been a top yielder in trials, scores high for lodging and brackling resistance and has shown good disease resistance thus far. Hacker, which is on the UK list and was recently on show at Cereals, has good yield with good straw strength and lodging/brackling resistance.
Promising varieties entering their second year of trials include Cantton and Prospect, both having yielded very well and displayed good brackling/disease resistance.
Olympus and Laureate are two new varieties on the recommended malting barley list which haven’t yet made it to the spring barley recommended list.
Laureate, a British variety, is high-yielding and has excellent disease resistance but is quite susceptible to lodging and brackling. Olympus is quite similar to Laureate, with excellent all-round disease resistance, reasonable yield potential but very susceptible to brackling.
Grain skinning was a big quality issue in 2016. While the causes are not fully understood, weather and harvest date are known to have an impact. Working on a 5% skinning threshold, the crop variety evaluation team assessed varieties in 2016 for the level of skinning present.
They found that Gangway and Sienna had the lowest occurrence of grain skinning followed by Cantton, Limon, Wylanda and Mickle. The varieties with the highest skinning rejections were Planet, Sanette and Propino. This was the first year that such an assessment was done so it will be a few years before formal details can be made available.
Three winter oat candidates
There are three candidate varieties for the 2018 winter oat recommended list. These are Keely, Avanti and Montrose. Keely has been a consistently good yielder in trials but has shown to be moderately susceptible to rusts and mildew. But it has a very high KPH and so it is interesting. There is a small amount of seed available.
Avanti is a high-yielding variety in trials and has good resistance to crown rust and mildew. However, it is a later-maturing variety. Montrose is another strong-yielding variety that is currently on the UK recommended list.
However, there is no seed available for Avanti or Montrose this year and so they are unlikely to be recommended.
Indications are that Husky will account for almost 60% of certified seed, with Barra and Keely accounting for the balance (see Figure 3).
Two spring oat candidates
Barra, first introduced in 1985, remains a significant variety on both the winter and spring recommended lists. While it has long been surpassed in terms of grain yield, disease resistance, standing power and brackling resistance, it still sets the standard for hectolitre weight.
The key candidate varieties to look out for are Benny and Delfin. Benny has yielded quite well in recent years but is moderately susceptible to crown rust. Delfin is the highest yielder on the list and has shown good resistance to mildew. However, it is also moderately susceptible to crown rust.
Candidate varieties continue to appear for consideration to be included on the recommended lists.Torp, Bennington and Barny are being considered for the winter wheat list with Avonmore an option for the spring wheat list.Gangway and Hacker are being considered for the spring barley list along with Kosmos winter barley.Benny and Delfin are in with a shout for the spring oat list, along with Keely for the winter list. 
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