Grain distilling, biscuit making and animal feed are the key end uses for wheat in northern Britain, so soft wheats often dominate drilling plans and three candidates from Limagrain are sparking interest from the seed trade.

With a current treated yield of 109%, the first is LG Skyscraper, which is predicted to achieve full recommendation for 2019-20 as the highest yielding soft feed wheat on the AHDB Recommended List. 

High yielding feed wheats have typically had lower specific weight, but LG Skyscraper bucks that trend with 77.7kg/hl and early indications show that the variety also has good distilling qualities.

With the addition of early maturity, SRUC’s head of crop improvement Steve Hoad believes it will be an “easy choice” for many growers looking for a new soft wheat variety with distilling potential.

“There are several soft feed varieties that have been around for a while and some are becoming outclassed. LG Skyscraper looks encouraging, with both high yields and good quality,” he notes.

Top Quality

The second new Limagrain soft wheat is LG Spotlight, which has a yield of 106%, but it is the variety’s grain quality that is the most eye-catching characteristic.

Soft wheats tend to have a Hagberg falling number (HFN) of 200 or below, but LG Spotlight combines a HFN of 316 with a specific weight of 79 – higher than any current soft Group 4 feed wheat. This gives growers the confidence of a good sample, even in tough seasons.

In addition, soft Group 3 candidate LG Rhythm has also performed well in the north in trials so far and joins Zulu as the only varieties to offer potential for three markets – biscuit making, distilling and uks export.

“It’s interesting to see progress in quality wheats with distilling potential and it gives growers an alternative to Zulu,” says Dr Hoad.

The final Limagrain wheat up for recommendation later this year is hard Group 4 LG Jigsaw.

While many in the North prefer soft Group 4s, its high tillering capacity, prostate growth habit and slow spring growth – like its parent Revelation – make it ideal for an early drilling slot.

Two-Row Gains

On top of the soft wheats, two new two-row winter feed barleys – LG Flynn and LG Mountain – look set to narrow the yield gap to six-row hybrids and offer northern growers some improved choices.

Dr Hoad says feed barley selection is driven by yield and specific weight and LG Flynn provides both, with a yield of 105% and specific weight of 69.3kg/hl.

LG Mountain is also an attractive proposition for the North, having a yield of 107% and good disease resistance package, including a score of 7 for net blotch and 6 for Rhynchosporium.

He adds that the two new varieties could have a knock-on effect on yield progress in two-row feed barley, adding genetic diversity with potential for further year-on-year developments in the future.

Striving for higher wheat yields has meant a slight trend towards later maturing varieties that stay greener for longer sitting at the top of AHDB Recommended List.

The trade-off is potential management issues in certain situations and, when twinned with doubts over the future of pre-harvest glyphosate applications, highlights a need to place increased importance on maturity when selecting varieties.

“Maturity” on the Recommended List is expressed as the amount of time, in days, taken to ripen in comparison to a benchmark variety, which is currently hard Group 4 feed wheat JB Diego (0).

Across the 41 varieties in five end-use groups on the list, just two two are earlier than JB Diego – Group 2 milling wheat Cordiale (-2) and hard Group 4 Grafton (-1). A further 13 match JB Diego and all others range from +1 to the latest-maturing +3 of KWS Lili and Revelation.

Delayed ripening

While the later varieties with scores of +2 or +3 tend not to be problematic in the south, in the north where temperatures are cooler, any delay in ripening can put considerable pressure on harvesting operations in the usually catchy conditions of late September.

Limagrain’s wheat breeder Ed Flatman says maturity scores are also exaggerated the further north they are drilled, with +2 or +3 days being about a week to 10 days later than the earliest varieties.

In Scottish trials, it is often observed that an early variety like Gallant is a sandy colour in August, while Revelation remains a very dark green. In Kent during a dry summer, this is much less pronounced.

“We can also see ears ripen, but secondary tillers hold on to green straw and leaves, which is down to a mixture of a variety’s genetics and the [fungicide] chemistry applied.

“Where growers are buying combines with a 40ft cut, they are being held up [by a tough crop] and the efficiency that [machinery] investment is aiming to provide is lost,” explains Mr Flatman.

Light land

It isn’t just in the north where maturity might be an important consideration. Growers on the lightest land look for earlier-maturing varieties to ensure crops ripen rather than dying off and compromising yield in drought conditions, such as those seen this season.

In addition, where the wheat is followed by oilseed rape, harvesting the crop early can help provide an early entry into the break crop – key to maximising yield potential.

Finally, milling wheat growers will also look to use early maturity to take advantage of the best harvesting conditions and reduce the risk of quality losses.

“It can also be advantageous for millers to get some grain delivered at the earliest opportunity, to get an idea of milling quality and baking performance for the new season,” adds Mr Flatman.

Glyphosate debate

Whatever the reason for growing earlier varieties, ripening needs to occur in a controlled and even way, and at the right time. To achieve this, many growers turn to broad-spectrum herbicide glyphosate to get crops fit for harvest, particularly in northern England and Scotland.

Southern Scotland-based Nickerson seed specialist Douglas Bonn says that with varieties generally needing to match or improve yields on the Recommended List to make the cut, new additions have become later and later over recent seasons, increasing the need for pre-harvest glyphosate use in cooler climes.

Despite the active ingredient surviving the European Commission vote on its re-registration last year, the debate on its future is likely to rumble on, particularly in relation to burning off wheat destined for human consumption.

If this use is lost from the label, or the active lost altogether, much more emphasis will need to be placed on genetics to bring forward ripening on at least some of a farm’s wheat acreage, which typically comprises of two or three varieties.

“That is particularly so for big farms, who need to look at maturity to avoid delays at harvest. We must reduce our reliance on Roundup (glyphosate),” adds Mr Bonn.

Soft wheat options

Mr Flatman says to do so, breeders like Limagrain are looking to produce varieties with a spread of maturity scores in each end-use group, without compromising yield, to help growers in situations where earlier maturity might be required.

In the North of England and Scotland, soft Group 4 feed wheats for the distilling market dominate in drilling plans.

Although drilling earlier can help bring harvest date forward slightly, where growers are delayed in the autumn or planting behind potatoes, using maturity score is crucial.

In the soft Group 4, there is now a handful of varieties with medium maturity, including LG Motown (0), Moulton (0) and Savello (0), that will finish earlier than popular soft wheats; Leeds (+2) and Revelation (+3).

“Farmers growing soft feed wheats are in a good position, being able to choose from a few different varieties with a range of maturity scores and characteristics,” says Mr Flatman.

He adds that Limagrain’s soft wheat, LG Skyscraper, is also likely to attract interest in the North, being the highest yielding of last year’s candidates and one of the earliest maturing, with a score of 0.

“It offers a big yield improvement, but with a mid-range maturity and should be on the Recommended List for next year.”

“While some varieties are more prone than others, lodging in maize is fortunately a reasonably rare occurrence,” he explains.  “This year it seems to be more of a problem with varieties, usually resistant to lodging, being affected.”

Mr Camplin says that the increased incidence of lodging is due to the combination of the wet spring and warm summer and the subsequent impact on plant development. In particular, the root:plant ratio and how this changes through the season, the root depth and extent of the development of buttress roots all play a very major role in a plants susceptibility to lodging.

He explains that this year, drilling generally occurred in wet conditions, where moisture was more than adequate. This meant root systems were ‘lazy’, not having to search for moisture. Then, with rapidly warming temperatures, plant growth accelerated, while root development in the drying soils didn’t keep pace leading to fewer of the crucial structural roots.

“In some areas with light soils, plants soon ran out of water, leading to very short stunted crops. On heavier ground, where water was not limited so early, plants could grow on well. But as these soils dried out, so the crops had to rely on the onset of heavy showers to wet the upper surface of the soil as this is where the roots were located.

“The result is that there are some very big crops with poorly developed root systems and very few buttress roots. Plant growth has out-stripped root growth, leaving an abnormally large plant:root ratio.”

He says that after the prolonged period of dry weather, many areas had strong winds and heavy rain, which played a big part in pushing over very big plants with poor root systems.

“The danger now is that if crops are left too long in the field, lodging could become more commonplace as plants begin to senesce and we see more wet and windy conditions. Farmers need to monitor crop maturity closely and make sure they are harvesting as soon as crops achieve the optimum 32%DM.  Don’t leave it too late and increase the risk of crops going flat.

“Where crops do suffer, we would advise discussing the best approach to harvesting with your contractor,” Mr Camplin concludes.

Richard Camplin, Limagrain Forage Technical Manager

Limagrain UK’s grass seed manager Ian Misselbrook also adds that improving reseeding programmes and considering other forages will better prepare them for fluctuating weather patterns.

“The cold, wet spring in 2018 delayed turnout and grass growth,” he says. “Many livestock producers ran out of forages and were desperately hoping for a good grass growing season to replenish supplies. This didn’t  materialise, then the dry, hot summer meant that they were dipping in to ‘new’ silage, putting pressure on the forthcoming winter.”

While we don’t know if conditions in 2019 will be a repeat of 2018, or wet like 2017, farmers should be better prepared and look to build up more of a buffer – or insurance – in forage stocks.

“A better reseeding programme and growing more productive grass with a high proportion of tetraploid varieties is an obvious route,” adds Mr Misselbrook. “And while there’s no strict rule, a well-run dairy unit that relies on home grown forage to support a grazing or housed herd will look to reseed – or rejuvenate – 20% of the grassland each year.”

A significant increased in the productivity of new reseeds compared with older leys means that reseeding costs can be easily justified.

“It will pay for itself in two or three years. A new ley will be around 30% more productive in its first full year then a six-year-old ley. A 10-year-old ley typically only yields 50% of a new ley.

Farmers can also use new advanced grass seed mixtures. Dry matter yields of these mixtures are 10% higher than the mixtures of 10 years ago and huge strides in nutritional quality in grass varieties are now being made,” he says.

There’s a lot to be gained from growing these advanced seed mixtures; mixtures that Limagrain adds its LGAN accreditation to and that have proven superior agronomic and feed value characteristics.

Livestock producers should also consider other forages that can help in managing dry conditions. Lucerne has deep roots and drought-resistant qualities and has proved to be successful during prolonged hot conditions in summer 2018 when grass mixtures showed little growth. Lucerne survives and grows in drier conditions, but it can withstand wet weather providing the soil is free draining.

A lucerne crop will typically give four years’ continuous production of high protein, high mineral forage with a dry matter content around 30% and digestibility of 70. With a lower cell wall content than grass, lucerne is highly digestible and intakes tend to be high. New varieties like Mezzo are more winter hardy than the older varieties, adding to the crop’s attractiveness in harsher UK conditions.

Fine-tuning the grazing system can boost forage supplies too. “It might be worth closing off a field or two and taking a silage cut, even in mainly grazing systems, to give that extra ‘buffer’ that will provide a cushion through poorer growing periods.”

“First indications are that yields are average, but cob size is large. We anticipate that dry matter content and starch will be good.”This is four weeks earlier than normal, due entirely to the long dry summer.

The crop – an early maturing Limagrain variety supplied by Wynnstay – was mature, so fit for harvesting.

Maize crops across the UK are expected to mature much earlier than normal this year. “Once it reaches maturity, the crop should be harvested to avoid the risk of lodging, especially in a year like this that has seen poor root development.”

Click here for more information on our forage maize varieties.

You can also download our brand new Maize Variety Selection Guide by clicking here! 

“Winter beans offer much more than a break crop. Growers who are new to the crop, or are returning to it after a considerable time off, are finding out that there are compelling reasons for making them a regular part of the rotation.”

There are advantages of a winter sown bean crop over that of a spring grown crop to consider points out Agrii pulse variety manager, Peter Smith. “The last couple of springs have been very wet whereas we have had favourable autumns which means that bean crops have gone into good seed bed conditions and performed very well.”

“Even in last season’s severe weather conditions, where beans went in on heavier land with more body and got roots down, performance wasn’t too bad. Winter beans certainly fared better than other pulses.”

Mr Smith anticipates that prices will be reasonable this season. “We should be looking at £20-£25 over feed wheat and for clean and bruchid-free crops this could go up another £20, so in this situation that’s £40-£45 over wheat.”

Whilst beans may not always be the best paying crop on farm they offer significant benefits as part of the rotation particularly when following with a first wheat, adds George Hunter.

Winter beans can also offer growers the chance to get on top of grassweed problems and spread workloads due to flexible drilling dates for the crop. “Whilst the recommended drilling window is between mid Oct – early November, performance doesn’t really drop off until mid-December, and then it’s just a case of ensuring the agronomy is right the to support the crop such as using higher seed rates.”

“It all depends on the season,” says Jeremy, who farms the 344-hectare unit on the South Downs, between Lewes and Brighton. “But we’ve seen a massive improvement in lamb performance when they’re grazed on high quality grassland.

He’s integrating this ‘temporary’ grass with combinable crops and roots. It’s a rotation that’s still ‘under development’, according to Jeremy. “We’re increasing the amount of grass in the rotation – this year we’ll direct drill 30ha of the Extra Lamb mixture into spring barley stubbles.

“We lamb 200 Texel x mule ewes in February, then the rest – 300 mainly Mule crosses – in April, and we look for a lambing percentage between 1.65% and 1.75%,” he adds. “If conditions are good, we can finish lambs in 12 to 14 weeks.”

Lambs are sold to a local butcher or through Hailsham market, from May onwards. By the end of July, Jeremy hopes all but about 80 are sold from the February lambers, leaving him free to crack on with the cereal harvest.

Until recently they’ve relied on grassland that was part of an environmental scheme. “We used this for rearing and finishing lambs. The problem here was that the leys were old and unproductive. Stocking rate was only five to seven lambs per hectare. And ewes looked poor on this old grass, so we relied on bought-in feed to boost their condition pre-tupping.”

While some of the farm remains as permanent pasture, Jeremy is growing more ‘temporary’ three- or four-year leys and using a seed mixture – Sinclair McGill Early Start or Extra Lamb. This combines high proportions of tetraploid perennial ryegrasses, a white clover blend and, in the case of Extra Lamb, Timothy. “I look at the catalogue then run my ideas past the specialists at our local merchants Bodle Brothers. We’ve a good relationship with them and they’ll advise us on choice of mixture.”

The new regime is providing Jeremy with early grass growth and plenty for ewes and lambs early in the spring. “And it’s persistent – it keeps growing through spring and summer. Depending on the season, we may take a cut of haylage, particularly off first-year leys, if there’s too much grass. These mixtures are giving us some flexibility.”

But what Jeremy’s really pleased with is the increased stocking rate that the more productive grassland offers. His stocking rate has leapt up to between 37 and 44 lambs and ewes per hectare. “Not only that, but they are reaching finishing weights of between 40kg and 44kg two weeks earlier, depending on the season, and they’re looking great. There’s no doubt that the higher protein and energy in this grass boosts their weight gain significantly.”

Jeremy opted to grow more grass when corn prices were low. “It seemed to make more sense – we could improve lamb productivity as opposed to struggling against falling corn prices and being open to the volatility of the cereal market. Grass became the third crop in our rotation.”

A decent autumn sees the grass start to grow and by late February Jeremy looks to graze the newly-sown leys.

“We’ve always spent time and money on grassland, but we’ve now moved it up a level and are treating it more as a crop. The extra reseeding has added to our costs, but these have been far exceeded by the feed value and yield of the grass.”

The farm still has around 120 hectares of permanent pasture – some of it is gorse land on the Downs – which is used for the ewes after weaning and before they move on to the roots.

Around 40 hectares of stubble turnips and forage rape are drilled after winter barley harvest and fed to the ewes during the winter. This land is then drilled with spring barely.

“We’ve been roots and rape for five years and this works well for the ewes. While ewes still get some concentrates in the lead up to lambing, we now feed far less. The combination of the root crops and better grass makes us far less reliant on bought in feeds.” Both, Jeremy believes, have a place in the rotation on this unit.

BOX – LAMBS OFF GRASS

Growing ‘good’ and ‘bad’ quality grass costs the same, according to Sinclair McGill’s Ian Misselbrook. “So why not be discerning about the mixture and grow a proven mixture suited to the purpose and with good feed qualities.”

When it comes to intensive lamb rearing systems, an early grass ley is needed that will persist through the season and will offer a high feed value for growing lambs and to support ewes.

“Select a mixture with early- and mid-season perennial ryegrasses,” says Mr Misselbrook. “This will spread the growth pattern. As one variety passes its peak, another takes over. Likewise, Timothy grows in early spring, before the ryegrasses, and then has another growth surge in mid-summer, when ryegrasses slow down.”

He also encourages farmers to use a mixture with white clover blends that, as a legume, has nitrogen-fixing abilities. White clover also has a high feed value and contributes significantly to liveweight gain. “Clovers are the single most important component of a mixture when it comes to liveweight gain in lambs,” he adds.

“While some farmers may balk at the cost of reseeding – estimated at £620/ha taking account of cultivations, seed, fertiliser, labour and machinery – a regular programme is good practice. These costs may be lower where less cultivations are needed.

“Trials have shown that yields from a 10-year-old ley will be 50% lower than those from a newly sown ley and there will be a significant drop in feed value from the older ley. A reseed will pay for itself in four or five years in both yield and feed value. And it also gives farmers the opportunity to introduce improved seed mixtures.”

Ron Granger, arable technical manager, acknowledges that getting seed rates right is complicated as it brings together a range of factors such as variety, drilling date, weather conditions, agronomic characteristics and importantly, experience of individual field performance.

“Get it right and there is the opportunity to fulfil that variety’s yield potential, but get it wrong and yield can be compromised from the very start.”

“It’s all about attention to detail and really understanding the variety and the conditions in which that variety will be grown.”

He says that this autumn we are looking at favourable establishment conditions. Where sowing conditions are optimal with good seed bed preparation and soil moisture, seed rates should be adjusted considerably as germination and plant establishment should not be compromised.

“And this does not necessarily mean increasing the seed rate.”

“Using high seed rates with very high tillering varieties can have a negative impact on standing power, disease resistance and specific weight. If plant canopies are too thick this will have implications on crop management.”

As breeders, Limagrain does the work to ensure growers know how a variety behaves agronomically, and it’s important to build this into the seed rate equation, he says.

“Varieties differ in their tillering ability in the winter as well as how they hold onto those tillers in the spring – and this will of course affect final yield.”

Limagrain seed rate trials carried out in 2018, Essex, show these differences.

The trial comprised of 5 different varieties, drilled on the 11^th October 2017 at 3 different seed rates of; 200, 300 and 400 seeds/m2. (Apart from the seed rates, all other agronomic inputs where kept the same.

“In what was a challenging year weather-wise, the results were surprising – it could be assumed that the higher seed rates would produce higher yields – but this was not necessarily the case”

“We found that a higher tillering variety like LG Sundance was highest yielding at the lowest seed rate of 200 seeds/m2, producing a yield at just over 10.60 t/ha. The yield potential dropped at higher seed rates, and this reflects the results we have seen with LG Sundance in previous seasons.”

“What this translates to on-farm, is that growers should consider lower seed rates if planting LG Sundance before mid-October, to maintain optimum yields from the start,” he says.

“Looking at LG Skyscraper, which we know has similar tillering and spring development to Evolution, it yielded best at 300 seeds/m2 with an excellent yield of over 11.50 t/ha.”

LG Jigsaw and LG Spotlight are high tillering varieties and again the data suggests that these varieties perform well at the lower seed rates – although the differences are subtle.

“But remember, lower seed rates will produce a crop that is easier to manage, and this should not be underestimated.”

Limagrain also carried out a similar seed rate trial in Glenrothes, Scotland to provide important regional data sets for LG Wheat varieties.

“Historically in the north, seed rates are higher to compensate for more erratic weather conditions. We wanted to investigate if this is still necessary and if there are sufficient yield benefits as ultimately, growers want crops that will not only yield, but are still standing at harvest.”

LG Skyscraper yielded a massive 13.4 t/ha when drilled at 300 seeds/m2. When drilled at 400 seeds/m2, this dropped to 12.3 t/ha – once again confirming that high seed rates don’t necessarily bring the highest yields.

This was also the case with varieties; LG Spotlight and LG Jigsaw which produced the highest yields at the lower seed rate of 300 seeds/m2, showing yield penalties at the higher seed rate of 400 seeds/m2.

“These are significant penalties in yield and support the theory that high seed rates are not always the best way of achieving high yield potential, but again growers have to weigh up the risk associated at the time of drilling to ensure good crop establishment,” says Mr Granger.

“Remember there is always some room for movement; wheat is a pretty robust crop and will produce more tillers if required, or drop tillers if the spring weather dictates, such as in a drought situation. But getting the seed rate as close to the optimum as possible gives your crop the best chance of achieving maximum yield potential, as well as making it easier to manage throughout the season.”

This has never been more evident than in this year’s winter wheat candidate list, where Limagrain has 7 out of the total 11 varieties up for recommendation to join the 2019-20 AHDB Recommended List, spread across almost every quality sector.

We are particularly excited about our soft feed variety LG Skyscraper, which is the highest yielding wheat candidate at 109% and will potentially be the overall highest yielding wheat variety, should it gain full recommendation to the 2019-20 List, says Les Daubney, marketing director for arable seeds, with Limagrain UK.

LG Skyscraper’s very high yield shows a significant 4% increase over the control feed variety KWS Santiago in treated trials and demonstrates that the variety is capable of competing with many of the high yielding feed varieties that have been added to the AHDB RL in the last couple of seasons.

“What is also exciting and really valuable on-farm, is that this yield potential has been consistent across both seasons and regions.”

“With excellent grain and end-use quality attributes on offer, LG Skyscraper is bucking the trend that soft wheats don’t yield or have the desirable quality characteristics of the hard Group 4’s as here is a soft wheat that does both – and very well,” Les says.

After two years of official testing, based on these excellent quality attributes, LG Skyscraper has been rated as a positive for distilling, making it an attractive proposition for growers in the north. The variety has a Hagberg Falling Number (HFN) of 216 and specific weight of 77.7, in comparison to the hard feed wheat KWS Santiago, with a HFN of 188 and specific weight of 76.3, and the biscuit wheat Zulu, with a HFN of 229 and specific weight of 76.4.

LG Skyscraper has a pedigree of (Cassius x NAWW29) x KWS Santiago. This balance of genetics brings excellent disease resistance to the variety; LG Skyscraper has good resistance ratings for mildew (7), yellow rust (8), brown rust (6) and for Septoria tritici (6).

This combination of disease resistance offers a variety with improved ratings over many of the feed varieties commercially in the market at present – which is also reflected in its excellent untreated yield performance.

Agronomically, LG Skyscraper shows itself to be a robust and flexible variety; Limagrain data however suggests that the variety is not as tall as the official figures indicate and 2017 lodging data should be viewed with caution as it was an erratic season with regards to plant growth, and a difficult season for targeted agronomic programmes,” advises Ron Granger, arable technical manager at Limagrain.

“Our data shows the variety to be high tillering with a semi-prostrate winter growth habit, and quicker plant development in the spring – similar to Evolution. It is early maturing –the same as JB Diego and Skyfall.”

“What this translates into in the field is that LG Skyscraper is suitable for drilling from the third week of September onwards and also offers a later drilling opportunity in regards to the blackgrass control scenario,” Ron says.

Limagrain data suggests that LG Skyscraper performs well as a second wheat, (3-year data set) and this is an area in which we will continue to generate more information. LG Skyscraper also has Orange Wheat Blossom Midge Resistance (OWBM); an important trait that is of increasing value in wheat varieties due to restrictions on insecticide products.

So to summarise, for those growers who are looking to grow a Group 4 and maximise their return on investment, they would have to go far to find a better variety than LG Skyscraper, with its very high yields, grain quality attributes and agronomic merits.

LG Jigsaw is a very different variety; it is a high yielding hard feed wheat that offers many valuable agronomic characters and it suits the earlier drilling opportunity. LG Jigsaw is the highest yielding hard feed wheat candidate and is very similar to its parent KWS Santiago, regarding both treated and untreated yield potential.

“From a pedigree of KWS Santiago x Revelation, it’s easy to see where these strong attributes come from. KWS Santiago has shown itself to be a consistent, high yielding, safe on-farm variety, and Revelation has proven excellent disease resistance ratings and fits the early drilling slot well,” says Les Daubney.

LG Jigsaw also has similar straw characteristics to KWS Santiago and responds well to PGR treatments. It’s disease resistance profile is excellent, with a solid rating of (6) for Septoria tritici, (8) for yellow rust, (7) for brown rust and a very good rating of (7) for eyespot.

The variety offers genetic resistance to OWBM and has Pch1 Rendezvous eyespot resistance; very important traits that are valued by growers.

“Our data suggests that LG Jigsaw is a very high tillering variety, with a very prostrate winter/spring growth habit and later spring ear development. In Limagrain trials last spring, it was really noticeable that LG Jigsaw held onto its high tiller numbers when many other varieties lost tillers due to the very dry spring – and it’s all of these factors that come together to make the variety suitable for the earlier drilling slot,” adds Ron Granger.

“It is a later maturing variety and with limited data, looks very good in the second wheat slot, but this is an area that we are continuing to trial.”

Matt Shand, arable wholesale seeds manager for Limagrain UK, is very pleased with the level of interest in these varieties from across the industry and believes that this interest will only increase for both varieties going forward.

“Whilst LG Skyscraper and LG Jigsaw are the two stand out candidates, the breadth of other candidate varieties on offer all have specific characteristics that will find favour on-farm for their agronomics, whilst meeting specific end-user requirements.”

LG Candidate Varieties for Recommended List 2019-20

Mr Robinson farms 165ha of predominantly Grade 1 silts in partnership with his father and mother at Brothertoft, just west of Boston, and with milling quality difficult to achieve on such fertile soils, feed wheats make his variety line up.

There has been a recent shift away from more disease-susceptible types such as KWS Santiago, JB Diego and Reflection in favour of varieties with better resistances to key diseases such as Septoria and yellow rust.

Robust resistance

Mr Robinson says he was already looking at LG Sundance with interest, as it has the highest Septoria resistance score of 7.4 on the AHDB Recommended List, combined with a yellow rust score of 9, and would fit well alongside his other choices, Graham and Evolution.

But a lucky visit to the Limagrain stand at Cereals 2017 saw him enter and win a prize draw for some LG Sundance seed, allowing him to try it out sooner than anticipated. The seed was drilled across two fields totalling 23ha last autumn in mid-October.

“It went in behind potatoes and combining peas and established well. It is looking really good this spring and if anything is a little too thick for our best land,” explains Mr Robinson.

So far, the crop has had a 240litres/ha application of Omex liquid fertiliser product Nitroflo 26+S, delivering about 80kg of nitrogen, and a second split later in the spring will be carefully tailored to crop requirement to avoid increasing lodging risk.

Split PGR programme

Mr Robinson is also planning a robust split plant growth regulator (PGR) programme to encourage rooting, strengthen stem cell walls and shorten stems, to ensure a standing crop at harvest.

Limagrain’s arable technical manager Ron Granger says this is a crucial part of LG Sundance’s crop protection programme, as the variety produces a heavy crop canopy born from large broad leaves and large ears.

“It isn’t just LG Sundance either. I would always advocate a split PGR programme on any variety to reduce lodging risk at harvest and the season of 2017 was a real eye opener regarding lodging pressure and variety interaction.”

“Earlier applied PGRs will encourage rooting and that will be particularly important this spring, as the mild, wet conditions will have resulted in shallow-rooted crops,” explains Mr Granger.

This advice is backed up by Limagrain trials, where LG Sundance was tested under different PGR programmes, including untreated, a single PGR and a split two-spray PGR programme on seed rates of 300 seeds/m² and 400 seed/m².

Results are summarised in Graph 1 and show that the variety responds well to a split PGR programme targeted at GS30 and GS31, based on chlormequat and trinexypac-ethyl.

Mr Granger adds that this season where early applications may have been delayed due to the adverse weather, may require a late or third PGR application to achieve the required growth regulation on crops.

“Where you are on a fertile site and have high yield potential, another dose of an ethephon-based product at GS37 can help minimise lodging risk,” he says.

Disease control

With Mr Robinson’s crop of LG Sundance around GS30, both the PGR and disease control programmes are set to kick off as conditions improve and fungicides will be chosen on relative risk.

The variety has strong resistance to Septoria and yellow rust, but is slightly weaker on the stem-based disease eyespot, so he will be including products with good activity on the disease, particularly at T1.

“We will be giving the crop all it needs in terms of nutrition and fungicides, based on its strengths and weaknesses,” adds Mr Robinson.

Mr Granger advises that any fungicide programme should include a good T3 ear spray, especially as LG Sundance is a later maturing variety. This is something that some feed wheat growers opt to leave out in low disease pressure situations.

“It is important to maintain a healthy green leaf area for as long as possible and prevent premature ripening and a reduction in specific weight,” he explains.

Graph 1 – LG Sundance PGR programmes

Limagrain will be running a similar competition at this year’s Cereals Event, please visit stand 504 to enter a prize draw to win 20ha of seed of the new high yielding wheat, LG Skyscraper.

Soft feed wheat variety LG Skyscraper is the highest yielding wheat candidate at 109% and will potentially be the overall highest yielding wheat variety ever, should it gain full recommendation to the 2019-20 AHDB Recommended List.

LG Skyscraper’s very high yield shows a significant and consistent 4% increase over the high yielding benchmark feed variety KWS Santiago in treated trials. After two years of official testing, LG Skyscraper has been rated as a positive for distilling.

LG Skyscraper has good resistance ratings for mildew (7), yellow rust (8), brown rust (6) and for Septoria tritici (6).

Agronomically, LG Skyscraper shows itself to be a robust and flexible variety, suitable for drilling from the third week of September onwards and also offers a later drilling opportunity in regards to the blackgrass control scenario. It is early maturing –the same as JB Diego and Skyfall,” says Ron Granger, arable technical manager for Limagrain UK.

LG Jigsaw is the highest yielding hard feed wheat candidate which suits the early drilling slot. It’s disease resistance profile is excellent, with a solid rating of (6) for Septoria tritici, (8) for yellow rust, (7) for brown rust and a very good rating of (7) for eyespot. The variety offers genetic resistance to OWBM and has Pch1 Rendezvous eyespot resistance; very important traits that are valued by growers.

Highest yielding spring barley

LG Diablo is the highest yielding spring barley available on the AHDB RL list 2018/19, yielding 106% 1% over RGT Planet and 2% over Laureate. This performance is also reflected in the very high untreated yields, as a result of the variety’s excellent disease resistance package.

LG Diablo is medium in height with good lodging and brackling resistance, similar to RGT Planet, with a maturity similar to Laureate.

LG Diablo is currently under test for malting barley committee (MBC) approval for both brewing and malt distilling. It has the highest hot water extract available, a trait that helped Concerto to become the benchmark variety. LG Diablo also has a very good specific weight, better than Laureate, all of which make it very suitable for the brewing and malting industry.

UK-bred OSR varieties

Limagrain will also be exhibiting its line-up of conventional and hybrid oilseed rape varieties. Bred for the UK grower, hybrid varieties such as Aquila and Architect offer very good gross output potential, backed up by valuable traits such as TuYV, pod shatter and excellent disease resistance.

All visitors are welcome to the LG stand 504 to see and discuss these and any other Limagrain varieties.

Running across the 2 days of the Cereals Event there will also be a prize draw to win 20ha of seed of LG Skyscraper, vist the stand to find out more.