According to one East Lothian grower, LG Caravelle winter barley has remained spotless this year and delivered on yield, despite the wet weather and disease pressure.
It was the first time that farm manager James McLaughlin has grown the variety, which yielded between 8.9t/ha and 10.8t/ha across four fields. He noted that not only did it yield well, but it also made pearling specification and will be sold on to merchants Silvery Tweed.
Cereals managing director for Silvery Tweed, Bob Gladstone says: “LG Caravelle performs well in our plant, producing a high-quality pearled barley for our customers within the UK food and drink sector. The consistent high pearling yield delivered by LG Caravelle, allows us to produce a competitively priced product for our customers.
“Considering we have had what is being cited as the wettest winter in 25 years, this is an impressive performance from the variety,” he says.
The variety was used in a rotation centred around combinable winter crops, oilseed rape and spring oats. James noted that they like to use winter varieties as it gives them a good window to establish following wheat crops.
LG Caravelle was sown in mid-September and reportedly established quickly, emerging just before the weather broke later that month. James says that it showed excellent vigour, despite the saturated soils and tough growing conditions.
Staying spotless
He adds that the crop stayed spotless despite the high disease pressure.
“With winter barley varieties in the past, we’ve often found disease will get in during the winter and early spring, then never really seem to go away.”
The genetics of the crop were bolstered by a well-timed fungicide regime. This included Folpet+Bixafen+Prothioconazole+Spiroxamine at T1, followed by Folpet + Prothioconazole + Pyraclostrobin at T2.
“The crop ripened off evenly – we didn’t need to burn it off, which is a nice saving to make on glyphosate, and it was combined on the 1st of August which is fairly standard for us,” he says.
He concluded by saying that all of the 2025 winter barley area will be sown with LG Caravelle.
Key characteristics
James tried the variety due to advice from Douglas Bonn of Nickerson Seeds, who believes it has all the characteristics for winter barley.
”In my opinion, LG Caravelle is the stand out winter barley to grow, as the highest yielding two-row winter barley for the second year running, since joining the AHDB Recommended List in 2023.
“Offering UK yields of 105.6%, LG Caravelle continues to dispel any misconception that two-row barleys are lower yielding than hybrids. The variety certainly competes with the best yielding hybrid barleys,” he says.
“LG Caravelle’s high yields are backed up by an excellent disease profile, reflected in its superb untreated performance. It is early maturing with stiff straw and good brackling resistance.
“LG Caravelle also offers an exceptionally high specific weight for a winter barley, of 71.4 kg/hl, combined with low screenings %.”
For more information go to www.lgseeds.co.uk