A new high-yielding hybrid winter feed barley variety, described by its breeder Syngenta as robust, resilient and reliable, is being launched to UK growers for this autumn.

“The new hybrid, SY Quantock, marks the next generation in yield from our established Hyvido hybrid barley breeding programme,” explains Syngenta hybrid barley portfolio manager, Mark Shaw.

“As well as a barn-busting UK treated yield of 109% of control varieties on the AHDB winter barley Recommended List (RL) for 2025-26, SY Quantock has a very high grain specific weight of 70.4kg/hl. We see it as a new contender to the current popular high output hybrid barley, SY Kingsbarn,” he adds.

Underlining the resilience of SY Quantock, Mr Shaw says it also offers an outstanding untreated yield on the AHDB winter barley RL – of 93% of the treated controls. This correlates with its good all-round disease resistance, he says, with ratings of 7 against Rhynchosporium and mildew on the 1-9 scale, and 6 against net blotch and brown rust.

“Reliability-wise, SY Quantock has also delivered high yields across a range of UK geographies, soil types and seasons, with the figures showing it has yielded consistently well over the last three seasons on the AHDB RL.

“It also brings other appealing agronomic characteristics, including good lodging resistance and early maturity. These are important considerations for a reliable harvest. One or two days’ earlier harvesting, for example, can make a big difference if the weather closes in. And Hyvido barley offers other benefits,” he adds.

With its hybrid vigour, Mr Shaw says Hyvido has also been scientifically proven to provide strong suppression of black-grass, ryegrass and certain brome species. Crop competition is an increasingly important part of integrated and sustainable grass weed management in arable rotations, he points out.

“Hybrid vigour also produces vigorous rooting, which is associated with improved nutrient uptake. Indeed, other research has shown Hyvido to have enhanced nitrogen use efficiency. This is another important part of farming sustainably,” he adds.

“From an end use perspective, as well as harvesting it as mature grain and straw, the high biomass of Hyvido also sees it grown for wholecrop for use in anaerobic digesters.

“Overall, SY Quantock looks the obvious choice for growers looking for a new Hyvido hybrid as a successor to SY Kingsbarn,” Mr Shaw concludes.