There is nothing to beat actually seeing a new variety against older comparator varieties to get a feel for how it looks and performs in the field.
Variety demos of the AHDB’s recommended lists are back by popular demand at the Arable Scotland event on July 4 at the James Hutton Institute’s Balruddery Farm, outside Dundee, with guided tours scheduled for 9.15 am, 11 am and 2 pm.
READ MORE: All about engagement and building resilience at event
Variety experts, Steve Hoad, from SRUC, and Mark Bollebakker, field trials senior manager at AHDB, will be leading the tour groups and presenting updates on the rising stars. Copies of the 22/23 Scottish Cereals lists will be on hand to summarise the barley and wheat varieties that are of most agronomic and commercial value to Scottish growers and the cereals sector.
Recommendations are made by SRUC, supported by the Scottish Variety Consultative Committee and are based on data collected as part of the AHDB Recommended List and Scottish Government National List system.
On parade:
Firefoxx continues to make progress as it is evaluated commercially for malting use so will be worth looking at on the day and comparing with established favourites such as KWS Sassy, Laureate and LG Diablo.
These still lead as the main varieties for the malting sector, with the first a distilling only variety and the latter two dual-purpose distilling and brewing varieties. Fairing remains on the list as the only fully approved grain distilling variety.
The winter barley list includes four new varieties including the two-rowed feed varieties Lightning and LG Dazzle and a new six-rowed hybrid SY Canyon. The leading two-rowed feed choices are LG Mountain, KWS Orwell and Valerie, and KWS Tardis, Bolton and Bordeaux are three newer varieties also coming up in the system and on show at the site.
The Scottish winter wheat list has increased to 20 varieties, 11 of which are suitable for the grain distilling market.
There are six new entries, including two soft-feed distilling varieties RGT Stokes and RGT Bairstow, a new biscuit and distilling option KWS Brium, two hard-feed varieties KWS Dawsum and LG Typhoon and a new Group 2 variety KWS Palladium. The leading distilling variety, LG Skyscraper, is in the demo along with Swallow, and the biscuit-making varieties, LG Illuminate and LG Astronomer.
READ MORE: Arable Scotland returns to Balruddery Farm in Dundee
AHDB has recently run a consultation exercise on the recommended list and results are available on its website. Very much in line with the innovative theme of Arable Scotland, the review shows that levy payers are keen to see varieties which require lower inputs and are more resilient to disease.
Mark Bollebakker will discuss the varieties in the system that perform better against this brief and the future direction of the testing system.
Varietal resistance to disease is an integral part of more integrated pest management planning on a farm and SRUC’s Neil Havis and Henry Creissen will showcase IPM developments that reduce disease risk and reliance on pesticides. Scotland’s Plant Health Centre will also be at the event to highlight the new crop specific IPM planning tools available to growers.
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