New wheat and barley varieties and a new seed treatment option for use in barley. Those will be some of the crop plot highlights from Syngenta at this year’s Cereals Event Live virtual event (10 and 11 June via the Cereals Event website).

Winter wheat

Exciting new winter feed wheat variety SY Insitor (pictured) is a new addition to the AHDB Recommended List for 2020/21, where it has the highest UK treated yield figure of all the hard Group 4 winter wheat varieties.

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To be showcased as part of the growing line-up of Syngenta Group 4 winter wheats – which also includes Gleam, Graham and Shabras – the line-up offers growers a range of drilling date options, from early to late. Importantly, all four varieties also come with robust Septoria tritici resistance ratings of 6.3 or above.

Hybrid winter barley

Meanwhile, with strong farmer demand for hybrid barley – not only for the crop’s  high yield potential but also for grass weed suppression from its vigorous growth – Syngenta will be showcasing three important winter feed barley hybrids.

These will include up-and-coming high-yielding hybrid, SY Kingsbarn ( pictured), a new high-yielding candidate hybrid, SY Thunderbolt, and long-time favourite hybrid, Bazooka.

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Based on latest grass weed suppression results from hybrid barley trials, the company will also explain how hybrid barley can be utilised as part of a farm’s grass weed management strategy, as chemical control becomes increasingly challenging.

Spring barley

For spring barley growers, Syngenta will be showcasing its new varieties SY Splendor and SY Tungsten as part of the virtual event.

Added to the AHDB Recommended List for 2020 as new malting varieties, SY Splendor offers the highest UK treated yield on the list and is undergoing testing for brewing use, while SY Tungsten is close behind on yield and is undergoing testing for both brewing and malt distilling uses.

New seed treatment option for barley

With much attention set to be focused on successful crop establishment this autumn, after the difficult start to this season, Syngenta will also be showcasing a new fungicide seed treatment option for barley, with the recent approval of Vibrance Duo in winter and spring barley crops.

Available for use on winter wheat seed against a range of establishment diseases since 2017, as well as having delivered improvements in establishment and yield, a key benefit of Vibrance Duo is improvement in rooting. Better root growth is associated with improved access to soil moisture and nutrients. Better establishment and rooting will also be part of a wider theme being examined by Syngenta during the event.