11 new pulse varieties join PGRO Descriptive List

A total of 11 new pea and bean varieties have been added to the Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO) Descriptive List for next year.

The latest additions include seven new combining peas, two winter beans and two spring beans. Three of the new pea varieties top their categories for yield, says PGRO principal technical officer Dr Chris Judge.

With plenty of new varieties to pick from, limited seed availability for the latest additions until production reaches commercial scale will be the challenge for growers.

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Winter beans

Patagonia (NPZ UK) stands alone as the earliest-maturing bean on the whole list, with a rating of 8 and a yield of 98%. It also has the highest winter bean downy mildew rating of 8.

A later maturing variety, Hepworth (Senova) offers the highest disease resistance for bean rust with a score of 6, as well as a yield of 96%.

Hugh Harley of Senova notes there is a good selection of winter bean varieties that give growers a range of options to suit requirements and ensure the crop remains part of a sustainable rotation.

Vincent now sits at the top of the winter bean descriptive list on a yield of 106% after a good year in 2025.

“In terms of seed availability, there will be plenty more seed of Vincent,” says Hugh. “It was popular this season so we anticipate that it will be sought after.”

Spring beans

Two low-vicine, low-convicine (LVC) lines have been added to the spring bean list for 2026: Callas (Saaten Union) and Maderas (NPZ UK).

“These LVC lines have less anti-nutritional factors so will likely be appealing to farmers looking to include higher ratios of beans in livestock rations,” says Chris.

Callas has a yield of 103% and a downy mildew rating of 4, as well as being early maturing for a spring bean with a rating of 7. It has a high protein content of 28%.

Maderas offers a good downy mildew resistance rating of 6, combined with the digestibility trait, and a yield of 98%.

Many spring bean trials suffered in the dry and warm conditions in 2025.

Tom Yewbrey, managing director of NPZ UK, commented: “We are strong in the LVC sector that will help develop the UK pulse market with end users, to the long-term benefit of growers.

“Ketu is a very high-yielding LVC bean, along with Futura and newcomer Maderas, to give our set of varieties in this developing category.” 

Last year’s additions remain the top yielders on the list – Notilus (Senova) and Eagle (Limagrain), with yields at 107% and 105% of controls, respectively.

“These were new additions to the list last year and may still have limited seed availability as production is scaled up,” says Chris.

This will also be the case for the new lines. However, there are several varieties with only marginally lower yield results in trials that are more widely available.

Viper remains the most disease-resistant line with a score of 8 for downy mildew and 7 for rust.

Combining peas

Of the two new yellow combining peas, Telegram (KWS) tops the yield tables with a yield of 117%, while Cushla (Senova) offers a yield of 109% of controls.

In the green pea category, a new variety now tops the list for yield too: Arkam (KWS). This variety offers very late maturity, with a rating of 3, and a yield of 114%.

It’s joined by other debutants Bullet (NPZ UK) and Mamba (Limagrain). Bullet has an earlier maturity than Arkam and is tied with Mikka and Gotham for the third-highest yield at 105%. Mamba has a yield of 99% and a maturity of 6.

“All new green varieties have a good downy mildew score of 6,” notes Chris.

Bullet © NPZ UK

The past few years have seen several new marrowfats come into development with yield improvements. New variety Yoshi (NPZ UK) joins Midori as the joint top yielder in this category, with a yield of 99%

Nyx (Elsoms) also joins the list as a new marrowfat variety with a yield of 94% and a downy mildew rating of 6.

Yoshi © NPZ UK