Harvest 2015: Winter barley yields up 14%, oilseed rape 10%

Winter barley yields are 14% higher and oilseed rape 10% above long-term averages highlighting the good harvest seen so far as more independent trials are recorded.

Average yields of winter barley reached 10.72t/ha, 1.3t/ha above a five-year average, with the best from Herefordshire and the poorest from Essex in AHDB Recommended List trials.

See also: Harvest 2015: Winter barley 90% harvested in UK, 80% of oilseed rape cut

The data includes 14 sites including two in Scotland, which produced some of the best yields at more than 11t/ha in the Borders and Midlothian

Hybrid six-row varieties did well with Bazooka, Belfry and Volume taking up the top spots for yield, while conventional six-rows Meridian, Daxor and Verity took the next three places.

The six-rows may have performed better during the dry spell of weather in September 2014, while the hybrids tended to do better than the conventional six-rows on specific weight, says the AHDB.

Among the two-rows, the highest yielders were Glacier 101%, Tower 101% and Infinity 100%. Two-row feed candidate varieties Kathmandu 101% and Orwell 101% did well, while the older variety Retriever had a good year performing particularly well in the Scottish Borders and Yorkshire.

Oilseed rape 

Results from seven oilseed rape trial show a gross output of 5.89t/ha, above a four-year average of 5.35 t/ha, with AHDB’s Lincolnshire site producing the highest gross output of 6.7 t/ha.

In 2015, the highest yielding recommended varieties include Arazzo (106%), Incentive (106%) and Charger (105%), while based on four-year averages, the highest yielding varieties to date are V316OL (107%), Incentive (107%), and Charger (106%).

Of the candidate varieties based on a four-year averages, Elgar, Nikita, Windozz gave gross outputs of 109%, while the turnip yellows virus resistant variety Amalie, a specialist candidate variety, gave a gross output of 100% in four-year average yields.

For the northern region, two trials from Fife and the Borders show strong performances with control varieties yielding 6.28t/ha and 5.47t/ha from the two sites, and with Anastasia (109%) and Campus (108%) showing up well.

Varieties with the highest gross outputs are currently Harnas (111%). Anastasia (110%) Campus (110%) and V316OL (110%) based on four-year average yields.

Winter wheat yields 

Winter wheat yields were down 12% in early AHDB trials, although this is a trend expected to change markedly after a harvest which has seen bumper wheat yields.

Yields averaged 8.9t/ha from two winter wheat trial sites in Lincolnshire and Suffolk compared with a five year average of 9.96t/ha, and breadmaking wheats like Skyfall Trinity and Crusoe performing well.