Three new winter cereal varieties, currently in HGCA candidate trials, were unveiled to growers by Syngenta at this year’s Cereals Event.

Two out of the three have potential for the quality end of the market, says company cereal variety specialist Samantha Brooke, with one being a potential biscuit-making wheat and one being a potential malting barley.

The other offers potential high output for feed barley growers, she adds.

SY Epson

“Selected as a potential biscuit-making variety, SY Epson is a new winter wheat candidate with high quality – in particular Hagberg and protein, but also specific weight,” says Mrs Brooke. “It is also performing well in mainland Europe, so may offer export potential. A variety which looks excellent in the field, it has also shown good resistance to lodging, good all round disease resistance – with excellent resistance to Septoria tritici – and is resistant to orange wheat blossom midge.

SY Venture

“Meanwhile, SY Venture is a new potential two-row winter malting barley from Syngenta with very high yield. Yielding 4% above Flagon in trials, it is also resistant to BaYMV.

SY Bamboo

“SY Bamboo is a new hybrid winter feed barley candidate. Like all hybrids it is high-yielding. However, just as Volume produced improved specific weight over earlier hybrid barley technology, so SY Bamboo builds further on this having produced an even higher specific weight of over 70 kg/hl, as well as producing big, bold grains and low screenings. In common with winter barley hybrids which are already on the HGCA Recommended List, it also offers early maturity and resistance to BaYMV.”