Winter malting barley Electrum is set to increase its market share this autumn due to its high yield and early maturity, and be a strong number two to market-leading Craft.

The two Syngenta-bred varieties are the only two winter malting varieties on the AHDB Recommended List, and Electrum is expected to increase its share of the winter barley seed market to 5% this autumn from 3% previously, with Craft unchanged at 10%.

Electrum’s fungicide-treated yield is 1% ahead of Craft and is two days earlier to mature on the Recommended List, but in the field this early harvest advantage can be even greater.

Tracy Creasy, the group’s seeds marketing manager, says Electrum will give growers a wider choice between winter malting varieties, which usually account for 20-25% of the overall winter barley area.

“We see Electrum as being a good option for growers and becoming a good number two to Craft, and on farm Electrum is likely to be 7-10 days earlier than Craft,” she tells Farmers Weekly at the Cereals 2021 event at Boothby Graffoe, Lincolnshire.

See also: What the new winter malting barley variety offers to growers

Electrum winter barley © Syngenta

Fungicide-treated yields 

The variety shows a fungicide-treated yield of 97% compared with Craft on 96%, and in non-fungicide trials it is also ahead at 77% against 76%, although Craft has a slightly stiffer straw.

Mrs Creasy says Electrum comes with a slightly improved agronomic package with better brown rust resistance (7) compared with Craft (6), in a 1-9 scale where 1 is very susceptible and 9 shows good resistance.

Craft accounted for 49.6% of all winter barley purchase made by UK maltsters from harvest 2020, followed by old heritage variety Maris Otter at 18.1%, and Flagon on 13.9%.

The first big commercial crops of Electrum are set to be cut this summer, and indications are that the maltsters like the variety and that they would like to see a wider spread of varieties. The variety received full approval for brewing from the maltsters in May 2020.

The overall UK winter barley area in the ground is up 25% at 389,000ha from 312,000ha previously, according to the AHDB Early Bird survey, and many see the area rising again next season as growers look to extend their rotations and prepare for the early drilling of oilseed rape.