United Kingdom: Five of the eight Recommended List candidate barley varieties not to be re-sown this autumn

Of the eight candidate winter barley varieties in HGCA Recommended List trials this season, five will not be re-sown for trial this autumn following the final 2010 harvest results for the crop announced this week, Farmers’ Guardian posted on August, 27.

Malting variety Blazing, the two-row feed varieties Trick and Vanquish and the conventional six-rows Hercule and Malabar will not be re-sown as they have not performed well enough in 2010 trials, it is reported.

Candidate varieties to be re-sown and, in turn, considered for recommendation later in the autumn, include two-row feed variety Florentine, six-row hybrid Element, and conventional six-row variety Escadre.

Recommended List manager, Dr Jim McVittie, says malting variety Blazing, with its low, five-year yield mean of 95 was withdrawn, but this year’s malting barley results feature no real surprises and, overall, have shown that there is very little to choose between Cassata, Winsome and Flagon for yield (all with five-year means of 97).

“Cassata has barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) resistance which is a good thing to have for a key malting variety, although it’s a little more susceptible to mildew than the others, which may be a factor for some growers. But Cassata’s lodging is two points better than Flagon,” he says.

Of the recently recommended two-row feed varieties, Retriever has performed well, yielding one point up this year on its five-year mean of 105. “Retriever’s advantage is its rhynchosporium resistance of 7, although it’s specific weight is quite low at 66.

“Conversely, other newly recommended two-row variety Cassia has a good specific weight of 71 and a low resistance to rhynchosporium.”

Cassia’s five-year mean yield is however within a point of Retriever’s.

Candidate two-row feed winter barley Florentine will be re-sown in trials this autumn, adds Dr McVittie, who says the variety has good disease resistance particularly for the wet weather threats of rhynchosporium and net blotch. Its specific weight is better than Retriever, but just below Cassia’s. Florentine has a five-year mean yield of 102.

Hybrid six-row candidate variety Element yielded within two points of Volume in 2010 and will be re-sown in trials.

“The variety has lower screenings and is earlier maturing than Volume, and generally good disease resistance with the exception of brown rust, which seems a feature of some hybrid varieties.”

Of the conventional six-row recommended varieties, old favourite Sequel has produced a good specific weight , while Pelican, with a low specific weight of 63, will be taken out of trial having struggled to get a foothold in the market despite a yield of 104.

Six-row candidate Hercule follows in the same vein as Pelican yielding one per cent higher than Retriever in 2010, but a poor specific weight of 63 means the committee chose not to re-sow it.

Escadre – another candidate to be re-sown in trials this autumn – is more like Sequel with a specific weight of 70, he says, but 4 per cent higher yielding over the five- year mean, and with good wet weather disease resistance.

27 August, 2010