Winter barley RL trial yields look promising

Winter barley is yielding just below the five-year mean in the HGCA Recommended List trials, suggesting crops were less affected by the poor winter weather than first feared.


The mean yield for the nine sites is 8.51 t/ha, which is just below the five-year average of 8.76 t/ha, says HGCA senior research and knowledge transfer manager Simon Oxley.


“We weren’t sure how crops would yield given the poor drilling conditions and the adverse affect on rooting in consequences of a dry summer. But it comes as a relief that it’s near the five-year mean, as the early results tend to be the worst.”


But within that average, there is much variability. The best yields were seen at Welbourn in Lincolnshire, where varieties averaged more than 10t/ha.


“However, some other sites have not performed as well, such as Great Dunmow in Essex at 7.51t/ha.”


Click on the image below for a larger version.


Winter barley RL table


Two-row feed barleys seem to be the winners so far this year with Retriever being the top yielder at 109%, although Dr Oxley points out that it was not present in all the trials.


“Looking at the results from all nine sites, KWS Glacier achieved a yield of 108% of the control varieties,” he says.


The six-row hybrid variety Volume has achieved a yield of 105% of the control varieties, performing exceptionally well in the Scottish Borders (110%).


Although with malting varieties it is all about quality, Talisman and SY Venture are currently performing well on yield.


Rhynchosporium and mildew were the most common diseases in trial in 2013, although levels were generally low.


Unsurprisingly, untreated yields are running above average compared with the five-year average, with the six-row conventional variety KWS Meridian standing out as performing well in 2013, which is a reflection of its good disease-resistance spectrum, Dr Oxley says.


There are some promising yields coming from the candidate varieties on both treated and untreated yield. For example, Tetris averaged 109% followed by Harlequin at 108% and Cadillac at 106%.


“Tetris looks good with an untreated yield of 106%,” he says.


More on this issue


Harvest round-up: Mixed results


 

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