The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has published the online edition of the recommended lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) 2023/24.
It features new varieties that deliver large yield increases, especially in barley and oilseed rape.
Included are the first new winter malting barley and winter oat varieties to be featured for several years.
“We’ve seen relatively few new varieties on the lists this year. Several years of plant-breeding advances mean the recommendation bar is set high,” Paul Gosling, who manages the RL at AHDB, said.
“Relatively few candidate varieties performed better than the best listed varieties to secure a recommendation.”
Barley varieties
RL 2023/24 includes several new barley varieties that bring strength to yield and disease resistance.
The winter barley list includes the first malting variety added since 2018. Buccaneer, from Saaten Union, offers a significant yield increase over the established two-row malting varieties, Craft and Electrum, alongside good disease resistance.
Two new two-row and one new six-row hybrid varieties add strength to winter barley feed yields (compared with current favourites).
The two rows are Bolivia, from Agrii (bred by Nordic Seed), and LG Caravelle, from Limagrain.
The latter offers a particularly high yield in the east region and a good specific weight. The new six-row hybrid SY Nephin, from Syngenta, is notable for its disease resistance ratings of eight for brown rust and rhynchosporium.
There are six new spring barley varieties 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).
The spring barley list also sees the feed variety Hurler added. Bred by Secobra, high yield is its standout feature.
Oilseed rape, oat and wheat
The winter oilseed rape list features three new UK-recommended hybrid varieties: Vegas and Turing, from LSPB, and Attica, from Limagrain.
LG Wagner, from Limagrain, possesses good resistance to light leaf spot.
RL 2023/24 features the first newly added winter oat variety since RL 2018/19. Cromwell, from Senova, offers good yield and grain quality. New spring oat variety RGT Vaughan also features good grain quality.
For winter wheat, the latest RL adds two new feed varieties: The hard-textured Oxford, from DSV, and soft-textured LG Redwald. The latter requires careful lodging management.
In recent years, the RL has seen significant developments in the assessment of disease resistance and lodging traits.
The latest edition features some changes including: Young-plant yellow rust resistance in winter wheat; untreated yield data for winter oats and a refined approach to septoria tritici disease ratings in winter wheat.
