Plant breeder DSV is looking to fast track the development of new breadmaking wheat varieties using genomic prediction which has produced the candidate Group 1 wheat variety Arlington.

Wheat breeder Matthew Kerton says the group is harvesting and baking milled grain from a number of different sets of wheats to quicken the development of breadmaking varieties.

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The potential breadmaking variety Arlington comes up for possible inclusion in the AHDB’s Recommended List later this year, with a similar resistance profile to the variety Skyfall.

“Arlington yields well and has the rare combination of [orange wheat blossom] midge resistance and Pch1 eyespot resistance,” he told Farmers Weekly at Cereals 2025 at Heath Farm, Leadenham just south of Lincoln.

The variety shows a milling spec protein of 12.8%, Hagberg of just under 300 and specific weight of 79.3kg/hl, with a 7 score for septoria and a 9 for yellow rust, in an AHDB 1-9 scale where 1 is very susceptible and 9 shows strong resistance.

The variety is a Skyfall x Marston cross, and Matthew says it could be a Skyfall replacement as, like Skyfall, it has a low vernalisation requirement and so has an extended sowing date window into the winter.

A second potential breadmaking variety is DSV 323111, without a confirmed name, which is a year behind Arlington and potentially will come up for recommendation at the end of 2026.

© David Jones

Yellow rust

Matthew adds that Arlington has seen no impact from a new race of yellow rust which has overcome the Yr15 resistance gene, while DSV 323111 does not contain the Yr15 gene.

DSV conducts its UK wheat breeding in the Cotswolds and has produced some varieties with good septoria resistance such as Champion scoring a 7.6, which is the highest septoria rating for any feed wheat.

Champion has been affected by a new yellow rust race which has overcome the Yr15 resistance gene this season, but Matthew argues that growers should focus on yield and septoria resistance, as yellow rust is relatively cheap to control compared to septoria.