Archive Article: 1997/09/06
THERES a shock in store for anyone scanning the cereal variety trial results from NIAB this harvest. Courtesy of the toughest growing conditions for some years, the ranking of performance this season is all askew. Some promising newcomers, and a few old favourites, have failed to deliver on yield.
But NIABs Richard Fenwick welcomes the prospect of a re-shuffle. The stress of early drought and then late lodging has given the varieties a chance to show their mettle, or not, in more testing times, he says. This harvests data injects much needed information on varieties abilities to withstand difficult weather into the NIAB matrix, used for Recommended List decisions.
WINTER WHEATS
IS THE end of the road now in sight for Brigadier? Preliminary results show this wheat has not done at all well, lagging behind Riband for the first time. And because these NIAB figures are from sprayed plots only, theres the suspicion that yellow rust may not be the sole cause of Brigadiers decline.
Some problems with lodging appear to have put the brakes on Reapers performance. Theres disappointment too with the early results from new varieties Charger and Abbot. Much seed of both these wheats have been sold this season.
Even long-standing milling wheat Hereward is managing to beat the yield from new bread wheat Abbot. Charger is trailing well behind as had been expected, coming below Riband on yield. A poor performance from lodged trials -particularly in Norfolk – is dragging down Chargers mean score.
For the moment at least, leading the field are Rialto, newcomer Savannah and – ironically – Blaze, a new wheat which was withdrawn commercially when its yellow rust susceptibility became apparent in June.
Rialto is also showing a top position untreated. Quality is important for this Class 2 bread making wheat. First indications are that hagberg is acceptable for milling purposes, though Rialto harvested at a late date from NIAB sites further north may be more at risk from low hagberg. Lack of sun in June is thought to be responsible for lower specific weight figures across all varieties.
Madrigal, Equinox and new bread wheat contender Cantata are also giving good results. Madrigal had initially been earmarked by the trade as a soft distilling wheat for the north, but this years high yields could broaden its potential appeal. Old favourite Riband stays in the running, showing the strength of its consistency in a wide range of conditions.
Overall, NIAB wheat yields to date are almost 1t/ha (8cwt/acre) down on the five-year average. More wheat results will be filtering through from NIAB trial sites further north this week, and growers should look out for these in the post as part of NIABs Varplan service, says Mr Fenwick.
It must be remembered that changes to the next Recommended List yield ratings will not be as extreme as this harvests results might suggest; the final scores are calculated as a mean of the previous five years figures.