Based on the highest yields, a feed wheat, winter barley and oilseed rape from breeders Limagrain UK, take poll position in the 2019-2020 AHDB Recommended List.

For the first time in over a decade, a soft wheat now tops the Recommended List at 106% over control.

“This is not a one-off performance – LG Skyscraper has consistently performed over the past three contrasting years in official trials and with its high specific weight, good disease resistance plus midge resistance, it is well suited to all regions of the UK,” says Ed Flatman, senior wheat breeder with Limagrain UK.

“The variety has particular interest for growers in the North, with grain suitable for distilling and mid-early maturity.

“LG Skyscraper’s early maturity offers growers elsewhere the advantage of top yields combined with the flexibility to spread harvest workloads.

“This is a rare attribute as highest yields often tend to be the result of extended grain fill from late maturity, which is not the case for LG Skyscraper.”

As it’s a variety suited to the main sowing window and onwards, based on its growth and development, early sowing should be avoided, Ed points out.

LG Spotlight, at 104%, sits within the group of top feed varieties on the new Recommended List. The variety offers a combination of high yields, stiff straw and good physical grain quality, he continues.

“LG Spotlight’s grain quality is impressive, with an average specific weight above 78kg/hl and Hagberg approaching 300; a combination not seen before in soft wheat.

“What underlies this high Hagberg is one of the highest levels of sprouting resistance normally only seen in top quality bread varieties, giving growers security when erratic weather conditions delay harvest,” he says.

LG Detroit is a variety with good consistent Group 2 milling quality – superior to others in this sector, claims Ed, and with characteristics similar to many of the current Group 1 varieties.

LG Detroit’s physical grain quality is good, and it has a high specific weight and Hagberg.

“The impressive attribute is its grain protein which, like it’s parent Crusoe, is consistently almost half a percent above the average expected at any yield. This is due to enhanced conversion of applied nitrogen into grain protein,” he explains.

“In the field, the variety has a good foliar resistance profile, with the benefit of a high level of fusarium resistance. For a bread quality wheat, it also has the significant advantage of resistance to OWBM, with Skyfall being the only other choice,” says Ed.

Barley

“Interest in high yielding two-row winter barleys remains strong, despite the introduction of six-row hybrids,” says Les Daubney, marketing director for arable seeds for Limagrain.

“Growers of two-rows particularly favour varieties with good specific weight that produce big quantities of quality straw. LG Mountain and LG Flynn should exactly fit the bill.”

LG Mountain is the highest yielding 2 row variety in the North, with a yield of 105%, and therefore competing with the hybrids. This, combined with early maturity and good specific weight, makes LG Mountain an excellent choice for growers in this region.

LG Flynn is also very high yielding, being particularly strong in the west (at 104%), where much of the two-row feed barley is grown.

The variety has a very high specific weight, (69.7 kg/hl), combined with stiff straw and good disease resistance.

Oilseed Rape

The UK-based Limagrain oilseed rape breeding programme continues to create varieties specifically tailored to the needs of UK growers, says the company.

As a result of this focussed approach, Aspire has achieved a UK-wide recommendation as the highest yielding conventional variety – outperforming well established varieties in both regions.

“The high yield and oil genetic potential of the variety is coupled with a really attractive agronomic package,” says senior oilseed rape breeder, Vasilis Gegas.

“With a very robust 7 for light leaf spot and a 6 for stem canker plus TuYV resistance, this is a disease package that suits every situation, anywhere in the country.

“On top of all of this, Aspire is a short variety with the highest possible score for stem stiffness.”