LEADING THE charge for Syngenta at Cereals LIVE will be new wheat and barley varieties plus an exciting new seed treatment option for use in barley.

That fungicidal seed treatment option for barley comes with the recent approval of Vibrance Duo for use in winter and spring barley crops. Already used on winter wheat seed against a range of establishment diseases since 2017, its key benefit is a big improvement in crop rooting.

Better root growth is associated with improved access to soil moisture and nutrients – a point which is being highlighted by this spring’s drought conditions. Better establishment and rooting will also be part of a wider theme being examined by Syngenta during the event.

In trials during 2018 and 2019, its ability to assist rooting resulted in much greater plants per square metre, plus greater root mass and weight. That was especially so when partnered by Rancona to really boost control of disease, especially loose smut.

Trials in Berwick with Kingsbarns hybrid winter barley last year showed that untreated seed produce a stand of 168 plants/sq m, with three tillers per plant; fluopyram plus PTZ and TBZ had 189 p/sq/m and four tillers; while Vibrance Duoa and Rancona combined to produce 217 p/sq/m with six tillers. A trial with spring barley produced relatively similar results and recorded a 113% increase in root weight.

Meanwhile, a trial on heavy land at Doncaster had shown a yield benefit of 0.21 t/ha for the Vibrance Duo and Rancona pairing, against 0.18 t/ha boost using Vibrance Duo alone. That means that Syngenta will be recommending the pairing in high risk situations.

The new winter feed wheat variety, SY Insitor, will be 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.

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.

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 include up-and-coming high-yielding hybrid, SY Kingsbarn; a new high-yielding candidate hybrid, SY Thunderbolt; and long-time favourite hybrid, Bazooka.

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.

For spring barley growers, Syngenta is promoting new varieties SY Splendor and SY Tungsten as part of the virtual event.

Both 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.