Results, based on three years of trials, show that Tarine outshines the control variety Kyros by 8%. Based on a dry matter yield of 17.6 tonnes per hectare, this means that Tarine produces 1.4 tonnes per hectare more and top of the 12 varieties on trial.

Tarine also produced a dry matter content at 20.1% which is higher than other medium dry matter varieties. It is a Rhizomania resistant variety with clean pink roots. Sixty four per cent of the root grows below the ground and it has good leaf size; both of these features help with harvesting and make it possible to use leaf lifting machine.

“Tarine marks a new generation of fodder beet,” says Limagrain’s forage crop specialist Martin Titley. “It has been bred especially for its feed characteristics
and these results are demonstrating its success at field trial stages. We will see the first seeds drilled in the UK this spring for harvesting in autumn ready to include in beef and dairy rations.

“Livestock producers can take advantage of the exceptional levels of energy and dry matter yield per hectare and with varieties like Tarine they can realise even more value from home grown feeds,” adds Mr Titley.

“Be discerning about the choice of variety and take advantage of UK trial data. And it is worth reviewing the variety choice and take advantage of new plant breeding genetics.”

Limagrain’s latest Forage Crops Trial Results Guide for 2016 includes data for nine different forage crop species, to suit different land types, nutritional requirements and management systems. The booklet is available to download by clicking here, or if you would like a hard copy please get in touch with Sophie Li on 01472 370173 or sophie.li@limagrain.co.uk.

Firstly one has to recognise that the effects of the wet and mild winter are hugely variable. In some areas the grass has continued to grow throughout the winter months and the question might be when and how to utilise it, whilst at the other end of the scale fields might have been waterlogged for weeks or even months.

At the time of writing it is still very mild but if wet grassland then becomes frozen for prolonged periods, plant death will occur and serious damage will result.

Where serious damage has occurred, be it from frosting or flooding and productivity is impaired, over-seeding, or a full reseed with a high performing mixture should be considered. However this should not be undertaken before an assessment of soil health and structure is undertaken. Dig some test holes to evaluate soils for signs of compaction. Where fields have been under water for long periods, nutrient exchange will not function and in extreme cases soils might have become anaerobic.

Remedial action to alleviate soil compaction should be implemented as soon as conditions allow. After this, one needs to ascertain whether to over-seed, reseed with a new grass ley, or sow a pioneer crop such as Forage Rape or Westerwolds Ryegrass, prior to a full reseed in the autumn. The “pioneer” crop will not only help to condition the soil but also provide useful forage.

(Source: British Grassland Society; Grass & Forage Farmer publication).

Kevin Bloomfield, who farms the 89ha Choon Farm on the Lizard Peninsula has grown maize for several years and the crop is taking on a greater importance as he moves to block calving with his 130 cow herd.

The move from all year round calving is designed to simplify the overall system and improve use of grazing and milk from forage.  The farm is prone to drying out and grass can be in short supply in the late summer.

“By calving from August onwards we can bring cows straight onto winter rations and move them out to grass in the spring when they are safely in calf,” Kevin explains.  “They will be drying off as grass runs short.

“Our aim is to feed a consistent diet at peak lactation and while cows are being served as this gives fewer problems than having to manage variable quality grazing, as was often the case when we calved all year round.”

The winter diet is a TMR comprising maize and grass silage, fodder beet, barley and a 40% protein blend.  In previous years, maize has not been available as cows were housed so the diet would initially contain higher proportions of grass and fodder beet.  The aim now is to increase maize production to allow feeding all year round.

In 2015 Kevin grew 13ha, an increase on 2014.  In 2016 he plans to grow around 16ha.

“This year we harvested 600 tonnes which means we will have some for buffer feeding as well as silage available to use with fresh calvers in August and September before we can add the 2016 crop to the diet.  As we are growing a greater proportion of maize, we must be sure we maximise the tonnage of quality feed available and that it can be harvested in time, making variety choice a crucial management decision.”

Kevin explains it is important to get maize planted early so is looking for good early vigour.  He also needs an early maturing variety to ensure the crop dries down quickly.  He says that being close to the coast in Cornwall he sees very little drying down of maize after mid-October.

“We won’t consider anything later than maturity class 10 but also want a variety that will deliver good yields of high quality silage with a high energy content and good starch levels.  We used to grow 3-4 varieties but I think that the fields being used have far more influence on how the crop will perform and now will grow a single variety.”

Variety selection is a discussion with Alan Moore from ACT who explains that after trialling the variety in 2014, the farm grows the LG variety Glory exclusively.

“Two years ago we tried a proportion of Glory as it meets all our criteria, being maturity class 10 and scoring 7.5 for early vigour, combined with high starch
content and excellent fibre digestibility,” Alan explains.  “It is the top ranked variety for starch yield and produces high dry matter yields.  It is 4^th highest on the BSPB/NIAB List for ME yield.”

The Glory was drilled on 15^th May which is about normal for the farm and harvested on 11^th October, being incorporated into the TMR from early November.

“The crop looked good for the year and was all ready to cut,” Kevin continues.  “The plant was a little green but the cobs were a good size and had ripened evenly.  It has analysed well (see table)”

Kevin focusses on making the best quality forage and minimising waste.  The maize clamp has concrete side walls and the forage was covered with an oxygen barrier and plastic sheeting.

To reduce aerobic spoilage the crop is treated with Ecocorn.  “I don’t think you need an additive to encourage more rapid maize fermentation, but we want to keep the face cool, especially in the summer.  There is no point investing in feed and then wasting it.  We have also reduced the face width to 32 feet to help reduce spoilage.

“By focussing on variety selection we can ensure we produce a high quality feed to act as the foundation of our feeding system right through the year but especially in the crucial early lactation period,” Kevin concludes.

Choon Farm LG Glory analysis 2015

Speaking at the event, Limagrain managing director, Lee Robinson assured the attending members of the seed trade that the distilling market for spring barley remained a key focus for the company.

He acknowledged that Concerto which currently dominates the malting barley market will be difficult to replace in the short term due to its quality. “Over the last few years we have seen Concerto continue to take market share and in 2014 the variety made up 67.3% of MAGB spring barley purchases in Scotland.”

However he added that son of Concerto, Odyssey, had proved itself to be a sound alternative and that this choice has been widened with the recommendations of new non-GN, dual purpose varieties Octavia, Sienna and Olympus.

Mr Robinson outlined that it was still unclear where these varieties would fit in the market place and that Limagrain was committed to extensive macro trialing of the varieties to help the market to help to guage the performance of the varieties for brewing or distilling demands.

All of the varieties offer a step up in yield and agronomics from Odyssey pointed out Mark Glew, senior barley breeder with Limagrain.  €

“Olympus is a high yielder across all regions of the UK producing an average yield of 105, 4% above Odyssey and 10% above Belgravia in the north. In 2014, the variety performed so well and yielded within 1% of Planet and Irina at 109.  If we see a yield like this again this year we will be very excited about the prospects for the variety.”

“€œImportant to note is that Olympus holds a nitrogen content of 1.51%, well above Concerto (1.47%)  which gives the variety a head start when aiming for the 1.85% needed for grain nitrogen.”

With a grain and malt quality very similar to Belgravia, Olympus is targeted at the grain distilling market and currently holds IBD provisional approval for malt and grain distilling.

“€œSienna holds IBD provisional approval for malt distilling and brewing. The variety performs very well in the north (104) and west (105) and has the smallest difference between treated and untreated yields at 104 and 93 percent of controls respectively. This shows the robustness of its disease resistance, ” added Mr Glew.

“€œSienna stands out with its high specific weight€“ the highest for any variety on the recommended list an important feature for end users as high specific weight means increased volume which is also important should the variety be used for feed.”

“Whilst Sienna is a tall variety, it’€™s has an 8 rating for brackling and this puts it in a similar bracket to Westminster.”

Octavia is competitive with the ‘brewing only’ varieties in England, yielding 106 in the east and 105 in the north says Mr Glew. “Octavia offers growers a variety that helps to spread the ripening across the farm it is earlier ripening than Concerto, so should be particularly attractive to northern growers.”

Octavia is the only variety with a higher hot water extract (HWE) than Concerto and so far has produced low grain nitrogen in trials. Octavia has IBD provisional approval for malt distilling and brewing.

Mr Glew underlined the breeders commitment to non GN barleys, demonstrated by the two candidate varieties currently in recommended list trials. High yielding Ovation (108%) is the only non GN barley that matches Planet for yield, so a very exciting offering. Origin, the second of these is the stiffest candidate on the list, also with a high yield of 106.

“Whilst high yield potential is key to the success of any new variety, the emphasis of our breeding programme reflects the increasing importance of grain quality and we are beginning to analyse factors that bring ‘€˜consistency’ – that is to produce varieties in the field that will perform across seasons and positions.”

There are currently 11 Group 3 varieties on the 2015/16 AHDB Recommended List, four of which have joined in the past two years, providing plenty of new options in a category that once accounted for half of the market, yet today represents just 10-15%.

€œUK soft wheat is quite unique and has always attracted a reasonably good premium as there’€™s such a diverse range of markets it can go into, says Mark Isaacson of Hitchin-based flour miller Bowman’€™s.

€œAfter so much focus on Group 4 varieties in previous years, it is great to see Group 3 varieties coming through, such as Britannia and Zulu, that can deliver higher yields and grain quality capable of attracting a premium, yet aren’€™t expensive to grow.€

Alongside domestic biscuit, cake-making and distilling markets, there is a strong export market for uks specification soft wheat to Spain, Portugal and North Africa, says Dorit Cohen of AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds.

Buyers in these countries struggle to match the quality characteristics of uks wheat from anywhere else. As the consumption of European-style biscuits is increasing in Morocco and Algeria, we’€™re seeing demand for biscuit-quality wheat slowly increasing.

Particularly impressive is Robbos, a variety that has particularly high dry matter yields. The data shows that Robbos has a dry matter yield 7% higher than the control variety Kyros which amounts to an additional 1.2 tonnes of dry matter per hectare. Robbos also has one of the lowest dirt tare scores among the 11 varieties in the trial, and it has the largest leaf size which allows for easier harvesting with leaf lifting machinery.

“These features of Robbos bring two advantages,” says Limagrain forage crop specialist Martin Titley. “The large leaf can provide additional valuable feed, and the low dirt stare reduces the risk of soil contamination and milk taint. It is an ideal variety for first time fodder beet growers as it is robust and produces consistent yields.”

The deeper rooted variety Blizzard also has a dry matter yield on par with Robbos and the trial data showed that it has a higher dry matter content of 22.7%. Blizzard is suitable for lifting with sugar beet machinery.

“Overall, the trial data shows that fodder beet is an ideal choice of crop for livestock producers and especially for dairy producers who are looking to reduce their costs of production and maximise milk yields from home grown forages,” adds Mr Titley. “Yielding around 90 tonnes per hectare, this energy rich feed is an ideal complement to maize silage in that it can balance out the high starch content of the silage, and it can also help to reduce the reliance on bought in feeds.

“This latest trial data also shows the benefits of the newer genetics in Robbos that will appeal to many growers.”

Mr Titley encourages growers to use the trial results and be discerning about their choice of variety. “We carry out these trials every year, providing us with a large database of results that adds to the reliability of the data. Some fodder beet varieties are not available this year, so choosing UK proven varieties will be important.”

Limagrain’s latest Forage Crops Trial Results 2015 booklet is available from Emily Short on 01472 370117 or emily.short@limagrain.co.uk or by downloading a copy from www.lgseeds.co.uk/foragecrops

A video of the varieties being trialled can also be viewed on this web site.

The last two years have seen the spread of the disease, which has been accelerated by the warmer winter experienced in 2013 and 2014, allowing earlier infection and more rapid recycling of the disease.

“In early spring 2014 there was an explosion of Light Leaf Spot following these warm conditions which was a major challenge to control and although this winter has been colder, there has been exceptionally high infection pressure once again.”

Andrew Roy, crop protection team leader for the company agrees.

“I’ve seen an increase in the level of Light Leaf Spot (LLS) affecting the 2200ha’s of crops that I walk each year. We now find ourselves in a situation where disease incidence is increasing, at the same time as declining fungicide performance with a loss of effectiveness in some of the key triazoles used to control LLS.”

“Because LLS comes into the crop from November onwards, it requires treatment through the winter months, which is a difficult time for spraying especially in the north which is an additional issue to control,” he says.

Spray programmes must become more preventative and use alternative modes of action, adds Stuart Hill.

“A combination of SDHI and strobilurin chemistry, is a good option to limit epidemics of the disease.”

Ignoring the problem is not an option as David Waite, Frontier’s northern seed manager, confirms.

“Left unchecked LLS can depress yield by more than one tonne per hectare. Fungicides, of course, can play an important role in controlling the disease but inherent, genetic resistance will give an underlying protection that is invaluable when weather conditions are not favourable to spraying the crop.”

David points out that the next generation of oilseed rape varieties, have the potential to raise yields and gross output above the perceived yield plateau.

“Care and attention needs to be paid to seed bed conditions and establishment techniques with all varieties. However once the crop is established, disease pressure throughout the winter can test the crop severely; none more than Light Leaf Spot which thrives on the cool damp conditions typical of a normal UK winter.”

All three agree that a critical factor in controlling LLS is the integration of varietal resistance into rape programmes.

Up for recommendation this autumn is the conventional variety, Nikita. Bred by Limagrain, this variety offers a glimmer of hope as it has a LLS rating of 8, which would make it the highest on the HGCA Recommended List.

“Varieties with an LLS rating of 8 or 9 show significantly better natural resistance compared to other varieties providing that bit of breathing space required to treat the crops,” says Andrew Roy.

“In the past varieties such as Cuillin and Elan were both very strong and it’s great to see some new candidates like Nikita coming forward. These varieties should be selected as an important element in the fight against this very damaging disease.”

Dr Vasilis Gegas, senior oilseed rape breeder with Limagrain, notes that in years when LLS pressure is high, resistance ratings may come under pressure and therefore there’s a distinct advantage in starting with the highest rating possible.

Nikita not only offers a significant step forward for integrated disease management but also delivers solid seed and oil yield.

“It’s a conventionally bred variety and a candidate for both the north and the east-west HGCA Recommended List for next year,” continues David Waite.

“In the east-west region, Nikita has a gross output of 110% putting it in joint highest position, 10% above DK Cabernet and 12% over Excalibur, while in the north area it achieves 114% gross output, making it the second best performing variety.”

“Additionally it has the short stiff stems that growers prefer for ease of harvest, and very good lodging resistance. Nikita is also medium to flower and mature.”

Nikita Agronomics

HGCA East/West Region

Mr Stafford who runs a mixed farming operation, incorporating a 200 beef finishing unit and nearly 240ha of arable operations across his own and contract –farmed land was thrilled to hear that he had won.  “It is wonderful to have this opportunity to go to Denmark with my agronomist and learn more about Danish wheat breeding and farming,” he says.  “Regulations on inputs are much more stringent in Denmark so it will be fascinating to hear more about how farmers manage this and still achieve good yields.”

“We have around 60ha of wheat in our rotation and my agronomist Tim works closely with me when choosing new varieties that will give us the greatest potential from our soils. We are always keen to look at new varieties that establish well in the autumn, produce bold, heavy grain with good quality straw,” he says.

“We are very interested in how Evolution will fare here in the south, and will certainly consider it for next year as on paper it offers everything that we need, as well as having a robust disease profile, which suits our slightly wetter climate.”

Marketed in the UK by Limagrain UK, Evolution was bred by Danish breeders Sejet. The variety represents a step change for barn filling wheats giving growers high yields as well as offering robust disease resistance ratings to give extra management flexibility. This has been demonstrated by this year’s official harvest results where Evolution has one of the highest treated yields of 105%over control with untreated yields at 125%.

Evolution in summary

• New high-yielding winter wheat from Limagrain
• Nabim Hard Group 4
• High treated yield– 106% of control on HGCA Recommended List (provisional data 2010-14)
• Rated 9 against yellow and 8 against brown rust
• Rated 6 against septoria, mildew, and fusarium ear blight
• Taller straw than many Group 4s at 88cm, but…
• Good resistance to lodging
• Good second wheat performance

For more information click here

If you need a third crop, why not consider spring barley? It has arguably been the crop of the year for the last two years and with dual purpose varieties available to maximise your marketing opportunities; growing for the market has never been more important for spring barley growers as this market continues to develop and expandsaysLes Daubney, cereals product manager, for Limagrain UK.

“The UK malting industry uses around 1.9 million tonnes of domestic barley every year; of that, over 1.6 million tonnes is spring barley and of that, 880,000 tonnes were purchased from Scotland in 2013.”

“As the demand for distilling has risen, the proportion of barley purchased that is in the lower nitrogen bracket of

“To date, only two varieties have full approval for both brewing and malt distilling: Concerto and Odyssey. In addition, Belgravia is approved for both malt and grain distilling.”

Mr Daubney adds that this year however has seen the recommendation of four new and exciting dual purpose varieties from Limagrain, Octavia, Olympus, Sienna and Deveron. Offering not just a step up in yield and improved agronomics, these varieties are showing strong potential within both the brewing and distilling markets.

Octavia has potential for malt distilling and brewing and is already in trials in France having performed well to date. Olympus has the potential for malt and grain distilling, and Deveron has the potential for malt distilling, combined with a good specific weight with acceptable screenings.

“With its nice, bold sample, low screenings and good hot water extraction characteristics Sienna has potential for distilling and brewing.”

In this ‘Growing for Market Guide’, these new varieties can be compared against existing varieties. Yield, agronomic and market information for each variety is listed making it easy to choose the right variety for a given situation based on the results from official and internal trials – helping to make the best variety choice for your farm and intended market.

Importantly for the success of spring crops, and as more and more barley crops are drilled in December and early January, the Guide highlights how to manage these early drilled barley crops covering seed rates and fungicide and nitrogen programmes against more conventionally drilled crops in January or March.

The Growing for Market Guide is available to download or order from the website www.lgseeds.co.uk/springbarley and email: enquiries@limagrain.co.uk

Published in January 2015, it includes the latest variety trial data and tried-and-tested advice on crop rotations and on choosing the right crop for the system.

 “This is a valuable guide for those considering growing forage crops,” says Limagrain’s marketing director Martin Titley. “As an industry, we don’t have national recommended lists for fodder crop varieties but this guide provides trial data comparisons on the main varieties grown in the UK. Producers can see how these varieties compare for a range of agronomic and feed value criteria such as height of the crop, dry matter yields and digestibility.

“We also provide a comprehensive guide to growing and feeding a range of crops such as fodder beet, kale and stubble turnips,” he adds. “Suitability of the crop to soil type, harvesting methods and the cost of growing each crop are included as well as advice on sowing and weed control.

“This wealth of information, published in one guide, enables producers to choose the best forage crop options to boost home grown high quality feed supplies.”

Copies of the new Essential Guide to Forage Crops are available from Limagrain by contacting Emily Short on 01472 370117 or Emily.short@limagrain.co.uk or by downloading a copy fromwww.limagrain.co.uk/products/forage-crops

Evolution offers growers a very high yielding feed wheat without the disease threat that is often associated with this sector, and significantly, it is also a variety suitable for sowing in all regions of the UK, over differing sowing dates, soil types and the challenging second/continuous wheat situation.

Do you know what the best seed rate is for Evolution in an early sowing slot and did you know that the variety can be drilled through to late February? What are the yield benefits of a high input fungicide programme over less comprehensive regime and as a grower how can you consider what the best spend is to generate the highest yield results? Should the variety be grown as a second wheat?

“It is critical for growers to have access to all of the available information from appropriate seed treatments to correct seed rates through to responses to PGRs and fungicide inputs in order to recognise the best position for the variety on farm,”  says Ron Granger, arable technical manager for Limagrain.

“As breeders we are best placed to offer this information using data collected from a range of our own farmer and independent trials, distributor partners as well as using the HGCA RL trial data, ”

All of the characteristics and performance required for these sowing slots are outlined in this guide which is available to download here; Evolution Husbandry Guidelines

Amalie, the TuYV resistant conventional oilseed rape variety, has performed well over expectation this year yielding 108% over control, across 27 varieties in the trials, with yields of 5.3-5.7t/ha.

Winter Oilseed rape Verticillium trials have been located in Suffolk and West Sussex in each of the last three years in order to look at how varieties, both hybrid and conventional, performed over several seasons under standard input regimes, says Peter Cowlrick, an independent agronomist based in Hampshire with CCC Ltd, and also AICC Regional Trials co-ordinator.

Drilled on 24^th August 2014, the plots established well, and in what has been a difficult season for many oilseed rape crops it was clear that varieties offering more robust agronomic traits performed better, he says.

“For any variety, the value of any attribute comes down to the final yield result, and this has certainly played out this year when some traits have been fully tested.”

“Going into harvest on the 3^rd August, we knew that this would manifest itself in some interesting results.”

With an average yield of 5.5t/ha  across the two sites and varieties, it was the Amalie that stood out with its performance  – exceeding expectations & right up at the top of the yield rankings he points out.

“Amalie has looked good all through the season and there is no doubt that this is down to its combination of good agronomic traits. The variety not only has the unique TuYV resistance, that has shown itself to be of great value this season, but also has a solid 7 rating for Light Leaf Spot and a 8 rating for Phoma.”

Mr Cowlrick believes that where growers are looking to manage their spend on OSR this season, the TuYV resistance offers a useful saving on the £15-£20/ha that would otherwise need to spent on insecticides, and if more than one spray is needed this could be more.

“Early Verticillium Wilt assessments found that Amalie appeared to have good tolerance, only showing about 15% infection, over and above a number of the other varieties that showed levels of infection as high as 50%.”

Of medium height, Amalie has been described by some growers as a tidy variety to have on farm, as it produces a level canopy and is a dream to combine – and infact this may also contribute to the better yield results – the variety would also fit well in outlying blocks as its TuYV resistance would remove the need to make a separate trip to apply an insecticide.

“Without a doubt, it’s a key variety for this coming year and we are already seeing as much as 30-40% of our farmer’s acreage being drilled to Amalie.”