TRIO OF WHEATS OFFER £150/HA MORE THAN CONTROL VARIETIES
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Growers will have a chance to try out a trio of top-yielding winter wheats this autumn to partner current front-runners KWS Santiago and JB Diego.
According to leading UK wheat breeder, KWS UK, enough seed should be available to take high yielding Group 4 variety KWS Kielder to an 8% market share this autumn.
Supply for top yielding soft Group 4, Leeds, will be tight, with strong interest expected in the north for distilling, in the west as a result of its excellent fusarium rating and in the east for export.
At the same time, the hard Group 4 KWS Gator, is also likely to sell out with the focus being on its outstanding second wheat performance.
“Growers now have a wide range of high-yielding wheats for every site and situation,” says the breeder’s combinable crops manager, Julie Goult. “The trick is to pick them for the right place on farm and hence maximise margins.”
Speaking at a press launch last week, Ms Goult pointed out that compared to control yields, the very best Group 4s, across a range of sites, soils and situations, offered around £150/ha more in terms of gross output at today’s wheat prices.
Top yielding 2013/14 Recommended List newcomer, KWS Kielder has yields which are 3.8% ahead of JB Diego. However, according to KWS wheat breeder Mark Dodds, 2012’s damp, dull season trimmed its wings and the variety couldn’t fulfil its yield potential.
“In 2010 and 2011 KWS Kielder was the top yielding variety with yields 5% and 4% above Santiago, but like a number of later maturing varieties it just didn’t like the sunless conditions last summer.”
Mr Dodds says that KWS Kielder is an ideal variety for medium to heavy land and like all high yielding feed wheats it is a high input, high output variety. “It is shorter and stiffer than KWS Santiago and this makes it an ideal variety for more fertile situations where growers can push it hard for yield.”
Kielder also yields well as a second wheat, but Mr Dodds says that growers would be better off choosing KWS Gator in this slot. “In terms of raw yield Gator matches Santiago and Kielder in RL second wheat trials, but it excels in terms of maintaining specific weight in this more stressful growing situation.
“With 4% more yield than current second wheat favourite JB Diego, KWS Gator is a variety worth taking a look at. The characteristic of performing in more stressful situations can also be seen in earlier sowings and particularly on light land where Gator is also an excellent choice.”
At 109% of controls, Leeds is the outstanding performer in the north region trials and – thanks to its outstanding fusarium resistance – is one of a handful of varieties that saw its yield increase in 2012 compared to the two previous years.
“It is bred in France, where they pay greater attention to fusarium and in our trials it stood out and was clearly the best variety for resistance to a disease which had a huge effect on curtailing yield in 2012.”
Leeds is a soft wheat and has been given a clear thumbs up by the Scottish Whisky Research Institute. They say it gives a consistent good alcohol yield comparable to the likes of Viscount and Beluga and has no issues with viscosity. “Its alcohol yield per tonne of grain will be up there with the best available and with its outstanding Northern yields it is an excellent fit for this region,” says Mark Dodds.
“In the West, Leeds is the highest yielding soft wheat on the UK Recommended List and in this wetter region, where maize is more widely grown, growers will benefit from its fusarium resistance. But, don’t ignore it in the East, again it is the highest yield soft wheat and it will suit uks export cargoes,” he says.
Looking at seed supplies for this autumn, Ms Goult suggested that despite the difficult start to the season, supply and demand should be in balance. “Trade intelligence suggests that current seed production estimates of the three leading feed varieties, KWS Santiago, KWS Kielder and JB Diego should meet needs, but anyone wanting Leeds and KWS Gator, should bring forward their orders as supplies could be tight,” she said.
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NEW BARNFILLER COULD LIFT FARM YIELDS AND MARGINS TO HIGHER LEVELS
Growers looking for the next step up in yield should look no further than KWS Kielder.
That’s the view of KWS UK cereal manager, Keith Best who says that while it ranks second for yield on the UK Recommended List, this doesn’t reflect its true potential.
“KWS Kielder was the variety that growers and their advisors wanted to see at Cereals 2012,” he says.
“Last June, after two years of official trials it was yielding 4% ahead of Oakley and likely to provide a 2% advantage over KWS Santiago,” he says.
“What no one could foretell back then was the deleterious effects of the freak summer across mainstream wheat regions. This and this alone, clipped KWS Kielder’s wings.”
Looking at the bigger picture across a normal season, Mr Best expects the variety to regain its advantage. “For this reason, Kielder should be the number one choice for Group 4 hard feed wheat growers looking for a partner to KWS Santiago and JB Diego,” he says.
According to KWS product development manager, John Miles, KWS Kielder has one of the longest grainfill periods on the UK Recommended List.
“The exceptionally wet, dull conditions of 2012 combined to create the sort of summer we only get once in a lifetime and this prevented the variety from filling to its true potential.
“This was plain to see in the Recommended List trials series, where the earlier maturing varieties such as Grafton and Cordiale performed relatively better than the likes of KWS Santiago and KWS Kielder.
“That said, KWS Kielder still gave an exceptional performance in official trials,” says Mr Miles. When recommended, it was joint top newcomer for yield alongside the soft feed wheat Leeds and compared to JB Diego, KWS Kielder is still 3% higher yielding.
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