Group 2 wheat yields well achieving high Hagberg and excellent specific weight

         Bucking the recent negative trends of sliding Hagbergs and low specific weights for milling wheats, Northants based farmer Emma Bletsoe was delighted with her first-time crop of Mayflower, a Group 2 winter wheat from leading independent breeder Elsoms Seeds.

Emma, who farms 490 ha of combinable crops on heavy clay soils, alongside son George and farm manager Stuart Prior at Denford Ash Farm, near Kettering, achieved average yields of 10.62t/ha on a 29.38ha crop of Mayflower cut between August 10^th - August 16^th at moisture levels of 13-15%, and now plans to drill at least 60ha of the Elsoms variety later this autumn on the back of its positive initial performance. 

               Emma says: “After a stop-start harvest we were delighted with Mayflower’s overall results with one field, in particular, yielding an excellent 11.18t/ha. Stuart noted that it combined extremely well, producing a nice bold grain with early samples confirming a high Hagberg of 335-368 and an overall specific weight of 78kg/hl. It was George’s decision to go with Mayflower last year, based largely on a solid untreated yield figure of 93% on the Recommended List, together with an excellent overall disease resistance package that includes an 8.9 for Septoria tritici and gene resistance to both Soil Borne Wheat Mosaic Virus and PCH1 for Eyespot.

          “As part of our integrated pest management strategy for blackgrass control, we normally choose to establish our wheats a bit later into the autumn and drilled the Mayflower between October 5^th and October 12^th last year using a tine drill on one field and a Horsch Pronto on the other. All the Mayflower was grown as a first wheat following winter beans and it established well showing good early vigour.

      “In mid-February we began our Nitrogen strategy with 248kg/ha of Piamon 33N – a granular urea nitrogen fertiliser with sulphur that is well suited to earlier timed applications. This was followed by 140kg/ha of Urea applied in early March, before a final application of Ammonium Nitrate at 110kg/ha which went on between April 27^th and May 3^rd.

      “Following advice from our independent agronomist, Damian MacAuley of Indigro, we went with a 3-spray fungicide program consisting of a T1, T2 and T3 spray. At T2 we included the plant growth regulator Terpal (mepiquat chloride + 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid) in the tank mix for additional insurance, and, by late May, the Mayflower was standing well and looking very clean despite high disease pressure earlier in the spring. Damian confirmed that, agronomically, the variety was easy to manage and made good use of a slightly restricted nitrogen programme as a legacy of last year’s high fertiliser prices” she concludes.

        Endorsing Emma’s positive on-farm evaluation, Elsoms Head of Technical, George Goodwin, is delighted with the uptake in interest on Mayflower and has received positive feedback for the variety in a year which has proved agronomically very challenging for milling wheats.

              George says:” There’s little doubt that this year’s challenges have had an impact on harvest. Many farmers have frustratingly navigated a stop-start harvest which has negatively affected both yield and quality. We’ve had all the right weather this year, just in the wrong order! The cool wet spring meant cereal crops were less resilient to take on the extended dry, hot period we experienced across May/June.

          “It feels like insult to injury to have what is predicted as the wettest March and the wettest July on record in the same year - yet, at the same time, ideal for showcasing varieties like Mayflower’s resilience! Mayflower is a strong tillering variety with vigorous spring growth that has enabled it to emerge through a tricky season better than many other group 2 varieties. Partnered with exceptional disease resistance and genetic disposition for high protein, Mayflower continues to grow in popularity catching the eye of many progressive farmers. The buzz of positive news around its performance this year should give growers reassurance that they’ve made the right choice.

       “With its very high untreated yield there’s a good opportunity for growers to reduce fungicide inputs for greater cost efficiency, and, on marketing, beyond its bread making qualities, Mayflower is also suitable for export” he confirms.