With the majority of the 2013 HGCA official wheat sites harvested, results for Limagrain UK’s three wheat varieties up for recommendation this autumn have demonstrated the ability of all three varieties to produce the highest yields once again – and in a very different season.

“Although yields have been generally better than expected this year, we are very pleased with the outstanding performance of our three wheat varieties due for recommendation this autumn, Evolution, Panacea and Zulu,” says Ron Granger, arable technical manager for Limagrain.

“All three varieties were entered this year into official trials as the highest yielding candidate varieties in their respective groups following on from their good results in 2012; Evolution as a hard Group 4 feed wheat, Panacea, a soft feed wheat and the Group 3 biscuit wheat, Zulu.”

“However 2013 was a very different year to 2012 and it’s never clear how varieties will perform from season to season, but what we have seen is that all three varieties have kept their place as the highest or second highest yielders in their respective groups across very different seasons and climatic challenges.”

“These results are based on the data from the HGCA harvest reports for this year from across 15 sites, which is a significant amount of data, so we are highly confident that these three candidates have the best chance of being added to the 2014 HGCA Recommended List.”

Evolution remains the highest yielding variety in official trials, both treated and untreated in the hard feed wheat category. “This is due to its exceptional disease profile yielding 107 over a 5 year mean, 1% over KWS Santiago and KWS Kielder and 5% over JB Diego in treated trials.”

 “it is certainly one of the most exciting varieties to come up for recommendation for many years, and this is underlined by the consistency of Evolution’s high performance from sites across the UK encompassing different soil types, weather and management across the last three very different seasons that it has been in trial,”  he adds.

The variety has a very good disease resistance profile, is similar in height to KWS Santiago with comparable standing ability to JB Diego.  With a hard endosperm and an acceptable specific weight, Evolution is suited to the animal feed and biofuel markets.”

“Panacea is the highest yielding soft feed wheat that has ever been entered for recommendation. “Yielding 106 across a 5 year mean, Panacea sets the standard in this crowded sector of the market with a yield that genuinely matches the highest yielding feed varieties,” says Mr Granger.

Panacea is similar in height to Invicta with a comparable ripening date. It has a broad resistance profile, and resistance to OWBM. “Panacea also has a very good specific weight 77.1kg/hl which is unusual in the feed wheat category – a clear marketing advantage as it is suitable for a range of markets.”

The third of the Limagrain varieties for recommendation this autumn, Zulu, goes forward for recommendation as one of the highest yielding Group 3 candidates; 2% above Invicta and just 0.2% behind Cocoon over the long term five year mean at 102, and these results are consistent across regions.

“Zulu has the added benefit of WOBM resistance and SBCMV, and a robust disease resistance profile. Zulu is slightly shorter than Invicta, earlier to ripen and with a similar resistance to lodging.

Mr Granger adds that the good specific weight of 76.0kg/hl and a soft endosperm make the variety suitable for biscuit flour as well as the distilling, biofuel, export and feed markets.

For a full set of trials results go to the HGCA website www.hgca.co.uk