The Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO) has today added 14 new peas and beans to its 2025 Descriptive List for pulses.

After some strong yield performances in this year's field trials, new varieties sit at the top of the spring bean list, as well as at the summit of the marrowfat, green and yellow categories of the combining pea list.
Launched at CropTec today, the 2025 list features debuts for nine peas, one winter bean and four spring beans. 

Funded by the pulse levy, Descriptive List trials use a five-year rolling data set with varieties having to complete three years of trials before being eligible for inclusion.

PGRO Senior Technical Officer Dr Chris Judge said: "The five-year control yield for peas, spring beans and winter beans are broadly similar to those for the 2024 Descriptive List. 

"The pea yield decreased due to losing the high-yielding year of 2019 from the analysis, and a strong year for beans in 2024 increased the bean control slightly – beans seemed to perform well in 2024 due to the summer having fewer extreme weather events."

Chris said there were two main themes emerging from this year's work. 

"The performance of the new pea and bean varieties is the first thing to note," he said. "They have performed excellently. 

"The second is that lots of new yellow peas are being tested for the UK. Yellows are very popular in continental Europe but have always been a relatively smaller crop area in the UK. But with increasing interest in home-grown protein, there is room for the yellow pea growing area to expand." 

The Descriptive List gives growers the opportunity to compare different varieties and evaluate which will suit their situation. Promising new material from plant breeders is regularly submitted and those which suit the market and have traits of interest are likely to be supported and available for purchase in the future.

Seven yellow combining peas were added to the list – KWS Bram (KWS), Marler (Cope Seeds & Grain), NOS Blondie (Elsoms), Captur (Agrovista), Bellair (IARA), LG Corvet (Limagrain), and Bonham (Senova).

A new green pea variety made this year's list – Pangea (NPZ), which is the highest yielding green pea on the 2025 list yielding 114% of controls.

New variety Midori (NPZ) becomes the top yielding marrowfat with a yield of 103%.

Miro (Senova), an early maturing variety, is a new addition to the 2025 winter bean list. Its yield is above average at 101% and it has the joint highest chocolate spot rating on the list with 7.

In 2024 many winter bean trials struggled with drilling due to persistent wet weather last autumn. Two trials planned for the list had to be abandoned as one had no dry opportunity for drilling and another was waterlogged for most of the winter.

Four new spring beans have been added to the list – Notilus (Senova), LG Eagle, (Limagrain UK), Ketu and Loki (NPZ).

The list remains a similar size to previous seasons due to varieties leaving the list after discussion with the plant breeders. Beans present on the 2024 list that haven't been listed in 2025 include Victus, Vertigo, and the early variety Yukon.

Chris presents a full video of this year's Descriptive List on the PGRO YouTube channel here, and is joined by Limagrain's Heather Oldman and NPZ's Michael Shuldham for a special episode of Inside the Pod which will be available to listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, with a video version available on YouTube.

Further information about some of the new varieties has been provided by breeders here.
 
Combining Peas

• KWS Bram joins Concerto as the highest yielding yellow pea with a yield of 118%
• Marler and NOS Blondie have a yield of 116%, the same as Batist.
• LG Corvet has the highest downy mildew rating for a yellow pea of 8.
• Marler and Bellair are resistant to powdery mildew.
• Pangea is the highest yielding green pea with a yield of 114%.
• Mikka is the second-highest green pea with a yield of 108%.
• KWS Gotham and Carrington follow with yields of 107%.
• Both Carrington and Bluetime have a rating of 8 for downy mildew.
• Pangea, Reacher and LG Aviator have resistance to powdery mildew.
• Mantara and Rose remain the only two maple peas on the list. Both have high levels of protein and good resistance to downy mildew.
• Flamingo remains the only pink pea.
• Midori is the new top yielding marrowfat with a yield of 103%.
• Vision, Takayama, Akooma, Octavia, and Sakura all remain on the list.

Winter Beans

• Miro has an above average yield of 101% and has the joint highest chocolate spot rating on the list with a rating of 7. It is an early maturing variety, with a score of 7.
• Vincent and Vespa are at the top of the winter bean list, both having yields of 108%.
• Vincent has a larger seed size than Vespa and a better downy mildew rating.

Spring Beans

• Notilus and LG Eagle are the top yielding varieties on the spring bean list, both of which have a yield of 110%.
• Ketu has a yield of 107% and is a low vicine/convicine variety, joining Synergy and Futura which are also LVC.
• Loki has a rust score of 6, joint with Navara and just behind the most rust resistant variety LG Viper.
• LG Viper is the most resistant variety to downy mildew, with a score of 8.
• Maris Bead has the highest protein content and remains the only Tic bean on the list.