AHDB has now published an online edition of its Recommended Lists (RL) for cereals and oilseeds 2023/24. The online RL features a small number of new varieties, however, new barley and oilseed rape varieties are said to offer large yield increases while the first new winter malting barley and winter oat varieties have landed on the RL for the first time in several years.
Six new spring barley varieties are under evaluation by the Malting Barley Committee (MBC): three for brewing, two for brewing and malt distilling, and one for malt distilling. These offer improvements in yield and/or disease resistance (compared with the current market leaders, RGT Planet and Laureate).
Paul Gosling, manager of the RL, said: “RL 2023/24 delivers exciting potential for brewing and distilling. However, it is a tough market to break into, with varietal success determined by end users. As varieties can fail to make the grade, farmers should talk to merchants before growing them.”
Winter wheat
Biscuit-wheat
- RGT Wilkinson from UKFM Group 3
Bread-making
- KWS Ultimatum from UKFM Group 2
Distilling
- KWS Zealum
Feed
- LG Redwald from Limagrain – soft-textured.
- Oxford from DSV – hard-textured.
Spring wheat
- KWS Harsum
- KWS Alicium
- KWS Lightum
Winter barley
- Buccaneer from Sateen Union – The first malting winter barley since 2018, Buccaneer offers a ‘significant yield increase over the established two-row malting varieties (Craft and Electrum)’, alongside good disease resistance.
Six-row winter barley
- SY Nephin from Syngenta – A hybrid six-row winter barley, SY Nephin has disease resistance ratings of 8 for brown rust and rhynchosporium.
Two-row winter barley
- Bolivia from Agrii – bred by Nordic Seed
- LG Caravelle from Limagrain – LG Caravelle offers ‘a particularly high yield in the East region’.
Winter oilseed rape
Conventional oilseed rape
- Beatrix from DSV – a new Clearfield conventional variety for the North region
- Tom from CBI – A conventional UK variety, Tom offers a small yield increase but adds options for the seed-market component.
Hybrid oilseed rape
- Attica from Limagrain – recommended for the North region
- LG Wagner from Limagrain – LG Wagner achieved the highest yield in the East/West region and ‘possesses good resistance to light leaf spot’.
- Murray from LSPB – Murray has a high yield and resistance rating of 8 for stem canker.
- Turing from LSPB – a hybrid variety with high yields in the North region.
- Vegas from LSPB – a hybrid variety with high yields in the North region.
To access the full RL for wheat, barley, oats and winter oilseed rape, visit: ahdb.org.uk/rl.
