12 new forage maize varieties make latest ranking

A dry matter yield of 19.6t/ha has put new forage maize variety KWS Zimo top of nine newcomers among the first-choice varieties in the 2026 Forage Maize Descriptive List for favourable sites.

This puts it in second place overall, narrowly behind existing variety KWS Granturismo.

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KWS Zimo also has the highest metabolisable energy (ME) of 230kMJ/ha and highest starch yield of 6.9t/ha on the British Society of Plant Breeders’ (BSPB) Favourable List.

This list is for growers in good growing locations who have to strike a balance between maturity and yield because, for example, they have a follow-on crop to drill.

Other new varieties on the first-choice list include SU Addition from Bayer, yielding 19.5t DM/ha, an ME yield of 221kMJ/ha and starch yield of 6.02t/ha, in fourth place. KWS Reo is in fifth with the highest starch yield on the list, at 7.08t/ha, and Amarola, another KWS variety, is in sixth, with a DM yield of 19.2t/ha.

Second-choice varieties for favourable sites

A further three new names appear on the list of second-choice varieties for favourable sites: Bayer’s DKC2742, and MAS 195P and Clifford, both from Bright Seeds.

Some of the newcomers to the favourable sites list also appear as first-choice varieties for less favourable sites.

This list is for growers whose major concern is growing a crop that will reach reasonable maturity by a given date.

Limagrain’s LG31152 is the highest yielding of these, at 18.5t DM/ha at 40% DM, while KWS Reo has the highest ME yield, at 222kMJ/ha, and highest starch yield, at 7.29t/ha at 37% DM.

Rigorous trials

“The most critical element of the forage maize variety trials programme is that all varieties in a trial have fair and consistent treatment within each trial, to ensure reliability and validity of the published data,” says Ellie Roberts, forage crop specialist at Niab, which co-ordinates the 13 trial sites across England.

“The continuing challenging UK growing conditions over recent growing seasons continue to put these maize varieties through rigorous performance testing.”

Download the BSPB 2026 Forage Maize Descriptive List (PDF).