FRUK Manager (10)
Mike Lee (6)
Breeders Decisions
This is always an interesting time of year for us breeders, with official data finally coming, and the decisions about the future of varieties in official trial being made. It is nice to see your own programme coming up trumps with lines doing very well in national list trials years one and two.
The national list trials provide a useful test of a variety, checking for DUS and VCU – that the variety is Distinct, Uniform and Stable, and has Value for Cultivation and Use. VCU is quite easy to pass, and there are hundreds of varieties that are eligible for sale in the UK. It is the HGCA who select varieties for continuation in trials (as recommended list candidates).
It is always difficult to see what might be a fabulous variety, turned down from recommended list trials because it misses the cut by 0.1% gross output. With a LSD (least significant difference) on OSR running at around 5% it is meaningless!
There are far more important issues than 0.1% GO – light leaf spot is a particular problem developing all around the country – however, we have to live with these decisions, and plan for the future based on them. On the other hand, it is important to have criteria and stick to them, as there are always calls for the list to be shorter, not longer!
Finding growers for hybrid seed at short notice is extremely difficult – with a requirement for a seed crop of hybrid osr to have 1 kilometre isolation from a source of ‘unwanted’ pollen (another variety or any species that will cross pollinate) – it can be quite tricky particularly if we find ourselves suddenly needing a few tonnes of something unexpected!
Of course, sometimes we can also find ourselves trying to change an agreed production for a different variety!
The isolation requirement is why it is so rare to have hybrid seed in the UK. The majority is produced in other parts of Europe, which is often an us, as it usually gives an early harvest, and therefore early delivery of new crop seed.
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