Five favourite varieties for the feed wheat market
A cluster of five feed varieties will take a significant proportion of the UK winter wheat acreage this autumn, all of them hard-milling types, predicts Barry Barker of distributor Agrii.
All of them are hard, rather than soft, endosperm types, he admits, despite there being a good selection of soft Group 4s.
Candidates
Syngenta’s Reflection heads the candidate table with a yield of 109%. A hard-milling variety, it is very short and stiff with resistance to orange wheat blossom midge, but a possible yellow rust weakness.
Limagrain’s Jorvik is a soft-milling variety with a 9 resistance rating for yellow rust, while Senova’s Costello is a high-yielding hard-milling type with good grain quality.
Tempo is very similar to Costello – combining grain quality and good disease resistance.
“We can expect Diego and Santiago to feature very strongly again. But I would also add Evolution, Dickens and Relay to the list,” he said.
The need for good second wheat varieties is partially behind his selection.
“We’re always looking for good second wheats, which is where Relay and Dickens come in. Evolution also has that attribute, as well as the highest yield,” Mr Barker added.
David Leaper of Openfield believes the 2012 harvest changed the mindset of growers and made them think again about late, lower specific weight varieties.
“Kielder fell foul of that, despite its obvious yield potential. But grown on a fertile site, as a first wheat and with a good yellow rust programme, it will outperform the others,” he said.
Like Mr Barker, he also sees Dickens and Relay gaining some ground. “They have got improved grain characteristics and disease resistance ratings,” Mr Leaper added.
Newcomer Evolution, marketed by Limagrain, could prove to be a good partner for Santiago.
“It has better disease resistance ratings, a very high yield and seems to be consistent across soil types. Growers can have a degree of confidence in it,” he said.
But much will depend on what sort of year it turns out to be. “If it turns out to be a low bushel weight season, there could be a problem, as it is later to mature,” Mr Leaper added.
Of the soft-milling Group 4 feed wheats, Mr Leaper points out that both Leeds and Solo have got a following, while Revelation has also attracted growers.
“We haven’t seen the development of bioethanol and growers have been reluctant to put these soft varieties on the same heap as hard types,” he said.
It’s early days for the soft-milling newcomers Twister and Panacea, says Simon Oxley of the HGCA, who believes existing Alchemy growers in the North should look at Twister, with its 5% yield advantage and similar maturity.
“There are some decent looking soft Group 4s around. Horatio and Viscount are popular in the North for distilling, Beluga brings early maturity and Revelation is a steady variety with good disease resistance,” he said.
Will Diego maintain its number 1 position?
There’s no obvious replacement for Diego yet. The top-selling winter wheat variety’s combination of yield consistency, good grain quality and flexibility in the rotation makes it unique among the hard-milling feed choices, commentators say.
“If you want to avoid the late-maturing, low specific weight types, there aren’t too many to look at. The obvious step on isn’t there,” said Clare Leaman of Niab Tag (pictured).
In the North, Peter Collins of Mole Agriculture in County Durham says Diego accounts for 26% of the company’s seed sales. “It isn’t late, which is really important up here, and it has good grain quality,” he said.
Just 2% variation in its performance across six years is also relevant.
“More recent additions have varied by as much as 10%. Diego looks after itself in the field,” Mr Collins added.
In the South, Andrew Bourne of Dennes points to its flexibility. “Diego is good on heavy and light land, performs well as a second wheat and when it’s drilled late,” he said.
“It also presents an opportunity to get a small premium,” Mr Bourne added.
In the East, Andrew Cooper of Walnes Seeds also reports that Diego is a farmer favourite. “There are some challengers, but they lack consistency at this stage and are unlikely to attract the premium that Diego does,” he said.
