New varieties on the Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds 2016/17 (RL), launched today, see a step forward in breeding for crop management traits.

Advances in agronomics and disease resistance sit alongside good yields to deliver a whole variety package for growers looking for innovative solutions as part of a risk management strategy.

AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds’ Dr Simon Oxley, who heads the Recommended Lists project, said: “Realistically, yield and quality acceptable to end-users remain the main drivers for selecting a variety but this year often sees good disease resistance without the associated penalty.”

Additions to this year’s Lists include wheat varieties with improved septoria tritici resistance, oilseed rape (OSR) with resistance to light leaf spot and phoma stem canker and the first specialist OSR variety with Turnip Yellows Virus (TuYV) resistance. The virus can potentially reduce yields of susceptible varieties by up to 26%.

Dr Oxley said: “Two intractable diseases affecting UK agriculture are light leaf spot in oilseed rape and septoria tritici in wheat. Both are challenging to control with fungicides and, looking not too far in the future, management is only likely to get harder”.

“You may also see some varieties which may not be a step change in yield, but they are a step change in the management of risk. The specialist TuYV resistant variety Amalie is a case in point.

“In RL trials, the management includes effective control of aphid vectors, so it is likely that in situations or seasons where the aphid vectors are poorly managed and crops are infected with the virus, the variety will perform relatively well compared with susceptible varieties,” he added.

Relative risk

Dr Oxley explained how the concept of ‘relative risk’ has been introduced to the RL selection criteria in order to ensure resilient varieties make it on to the Lists: “We have taken the criteria used in selecting a variety based on disease resistance, standing power and the risk of yield loss based on trials data to measure the relative risk of a new variety compared with an established one.

“Trialling varieties across variable seasons and throughout the UK from Aberdeenshire down to Kent and across to Cornwall and Northern Ireland, really puts them through their paces. New varieties have passed this tough test and performed favourably alongside the varieties that growers and the industry know well.”

The concept of relative risk will be explored further at this year’s AHDB Agronomists’ Conference, where Dr Oxley will present on What makes a good variety? Trade-offs for better agronomics. The conference, at Peterborough Arena on 8 December, will also see the launch of AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds’ Risk, resilience, reward communication theme, which will run through 2016.

In total, 32 cereals and oilseed varieties have been added to the Recommended Lists for 2016/17, while 47 varieties have been removed.

AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds has been working with breeders to determine when varieties should be removed from the RL. When varieties fall behind on disease standards, yield or are no longer the variety of choice by end-users, they will now be removed one year after they are out of trial.

Dr Oxley said: “Varieties are recommended on their merit. In some years advances in breeding are made and it is only right that if new varieties provide the industry with better quality, better disease resistance and better agronomics, these varieties are recommended.

“The focus is in providing new information on new varieties. Some growers will always want to continue to grow an established variety, since they have the experience of how they perform on their farm. Continuing trialling these varieties isn’t however likely to contribute more to understanding them.”

Summaries of the new AHDB Recommended Lists are available on the AHDB website at cereals.ahdb.org.uk/varieties

The full AHDB Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds booklet will be distributed in early 2016. The online variety selection tool will be updated in spring 2016.

Recommended Lists 2016/17 – variety notes

Recommended List for winter wheat

RGT Illustrious is a new quality provisional nabim Group 1 winter wheat, which combines consistent bread-making quality at protein levels similar to other high yielding Group 1 varieties, with a high yield, stiff straw and good resistance to rusts, mildew, eyespot and fusarium head blight. It is relatively later than other Group 1 varieties.

Early indications from tests are that this variety has provided consistent performance to be a quality bread wheat over three very different seasons and it will undergo further quality testing as part of nabim’s two-step process in granting full Group 1 status.

KWS Barrel is the highest yielding nabim Group 3 variety on the AHDB Recommended List, suitable for biscuit-making and with provisional uks export potential. It also has distilling potential. Its high yield is in combination with stiff straw, good resistance to yellow rust, brown rust and mildew plus resistance to orange wheat blossom midge.

KWS Basset is also suitable for biscuit-making with provisional uks export and distilling potential. It has stiff straw, orange wheat blossom midge resistance and good resistance to yellow rust.

Spyder is suitable for biscuits and has distilling potential. It has a treated yield similar to the nabim Group 3 standard variety Zulu but also combines good resistance to mildew, yellow and brown rust with a high untreated yield.

KWS Silverstone, KWS Siskin, Belgrade and Graham are all hard group 4 varieties:

KWS Silverstone is the highest yielding variety on the Recommended List, and also the best performer on light soils, with a high specific weight. It is also early maturing with good resistance to mildew, yellow and brown rust. The variety is weaker strawed than other high yielding wheats.

KWS Siskin achieves a high yield, high Hagberg falling number, good straw strength and has the highest rating for resistance to septoria tritici on the List at 7. This alongside resistance to mildew, yellow and brown rust is reflected in its untreated yield, which is also the highest on the RL.

Belgrade is a high yielding early maturing variety, with good resistance to mildew and yellow rust and higher-than-average resistance to septoria tritici (6). The variety is however weaker strawed than other high yielding wheats.  

Graham is another high yielding, early maturing variety with stiff straw. It has good resistance to mildew, yellow and brown rust. Septoria tritici and fusarium are both rated high at 7 – the best combination of any variety.

KWS Crispin is a hard group 4 that also combines a high yield with good resistance to mildew and yellow rust, with the added bonus of orange wheat blossom midge resistance. It also has higher than average resistance to septoria tritici (6). The variety is however weaker strawed than other high yielding wheats.

Recommended List for spring wheat

Recommended List for winter barley

Craft is under test for brewing and further quality data is required but agronomically it has a high yield within the two-row malting category, good specific weight, stiff straw and good disease resistance, particularly to net blotch and brown rust.

KWS Orwell achieves a high yield and good resistance to lodging. It has good resistance to brown rust, but, in common with popular feed varieties, attention is required to manage mildew.

Surge combines high yield and high specific weight with good resistance to lodging and good resistance to major diseases, which is reflected in its high untreated yield.

Bazooka is the highest yielding variety on the Recommended List, performing well in the UK and the North. It combines a high yield, good specific weight good resistance to lodging and early maturing. It also has good resistance to rhynchosporium and resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus.

Belfry also achieves a high UK and North yield, ahead of the established variety Volume. It has good resistance to lodging and is early maturing. Belfry has an overall good resistance to all diseases, rated 7 for brown rust, rhynchosporium and net blotch and 6 for mildew. It also has resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus.

Recommended List for spring barley

Laureate, KWS Sassy and Origin are under test for brewing and malt distilling.

Laureate has a very high treated yield, early maturing with good resistance to lodging. Its specific weight is, however, lower than established varieties. KWS Sassy is another high yielding early maturing variety with a good specific weight. It, however, has a 6 rating for lodging, which is similar to established varieties. Origin is high yielding, early maturing with good resistance to lodging, but has a lower specific weight than established varieties. All three varieties have good resistance to mildew.

Fairing is under test for grain distilling, an end use where only a limited number of varieties are available, with a higher yield compared with the current standard variety Belgravia. It has good specific weight, very early maturing, good resistance to lodging and good resistance to mildew and rhynchosporium. Attention will be required to manage brown rust.

Ovation is a new feed spring barley variety with a high yield, good resistance to lodging and early maturing. It has good resistance to mildew and rhynchosporium, but attention is required to manage brown rust.

Recommended Lists for oilseed rape 

Alizze performs well on gross output throughout the UK, and combines this with a high resistance to light leaf spot (7), stiff stems and high resistance to lodging. A restored hybrid, it has the highest yield in the north.

Amalie brings the novel trait of resistance of Turnip Yellows Virus (TuYV) resistance to a variety recommended for the UK. As is typical with innovative traits, the gross output is just below the average of the control varieties, but it is stiff stemmed, with good resistance to lodging and good resistance to light leaf spot (6).

Elgar is the highest yielding variety in the East/West. It is a conventional variety with stiff stems and high resistance to lodging in combination with good resistance to light leaf spot (7) and phoma stem canker (6).

Windozz and Wembley also provide the grower with a high gross output, stiff stems and good resistance to lodging. Windozz is slightly earlier maturing whilst Wembley has better resistance to light leaf spot (6).

Angus bring high resistance to phoma stem canker (8) in a variety with stiff stems and good resistance to lodging.

For the North region, Nikita and Barbados are two varieties with good resistance to light leaf spot (7) and both provide a high gross output in combination with stiff, short stems and good resistance to lodging. Barbados also brings high resistance to phoma stem canker (7). Nikita is relatively early maturing, a characteristic highly prized in the North where late harvests have become increasingly common.

V324OL produces a quality food oil which is high in oleic and low in linolenic acid (HOLL). This fatty acid profile meets the food industry’s quality requirements, allowing growers in the North a choice of two recommended varieties which can provide a premium. It is also stiff stemmed, with good resistance to lodging and good resistance to light leaf spot (6) and phoma stem canker (5).

Recommended Lists for oats

Maestro and RGT Lineout are conventional husked varieties. The challenge has been to find new winter oats varieties which combine the quality characteristics of high specific weight and high kernel content with good agronomics. Maestro has a high treated yield, good specific weight and kernel content but it is weaker strawed and susceptible to crown rust. RGT Lineout is high yielding with good specific weight and kernel content in combination with stiff straw and early maturity.