Company News
July 16, 2018
Agronomic intelligence for better wheat choice
Disease and grassweed management should be key drivers of wheat variety choice for many growers in 2018, believes Agrii national arable seed manager, Barry Barker.
“Successfully combatting rusts and Septoria on the one hand and black-grass, Italian ryegrass and bromes on the other is so critical to the profitability of wheat-growing today that these two considerations ought to be prominent in variety planning for the coming season,” he suggested. “All the more so, with such a wide choice of proven varieties on the current Recommended List.
“Yield continues to be the main driver of wheat cost per tonne and all our research shows that agronomic strength is the best way of securing the most consistent yield at reasonable cost.
“The highest levels of disease resistance and grassweed competitiveness, in particular, are equally important in giving management teams the flexibility to cope with increasing pressures of workloads and agrochemical resistance, not to mention today’s particular climatic variability,” he added.
The latest agronomists’ Wheat Advisory List produced by Agrii from its comprehensive variety evaluation trials programme as a complement to the AHDB Recommended List provides extended agronomic intelligence on no less than 33 varieties.
“Alongside the average multi-year RL disease resistance ratings, the most recent season’s disease resistance scores from our national variety trials provide up-to-date information on disease resilience,” pointed out Barry Barker. “In many cases, these paint a very different picture of each variety’s current ability to combat yellow rust, brown rust and Septoria.
“Of the established varieties, for instance, our work indicates nearly 80% are at least one point lower in their actual brown rust resistance than the RL suggests,around 40% are one point or more lower in their yellow rust resistance and 30% are a good point lower in their Septoria resistance. And quite a few are two points adrift in their resistance scores.
“Updated from our trials as the season progresses to provide the most current guidance, this extra intelligence is really valuable in both choosing and managing varieties.
“Equally valuable in managing risk as far yellow rust is concerned are the variety groupings from the special Diversification Scheme developed and run for us by national disease expert, Dr Rosemary Bayles,” he added.
“By linking variety resistance to ancestry information they identify varieties at particular risk of breakdown because of the genes they share with varieties susceptible to current rust races.
“Alongside the early warning of race changes provided from our national disease monitoring programme, these diversification groupings allow growers and their agronomists to choose wheat variety mixes for the least overall danger from yellow rust epidemics in the year ahead.”
Agrii’s variety evaluations at Stow Longa, with paired variety plots subjected to robust and compromised herbicide regimes each season, further allow research-based ratings for grassweed competitiveness to be provided as part of the Advisory List.
A total of 10 of the 33 varieties listed are identified as especially competitive, making them the most suitable for use in integrated agronomy programmes where black-grass, Italian ryegrass and bromes are already problematic or at risk of becoming so.
“When under pressure from high grassweed populations, our Stow Longa work has shown the most competitive varieties can lose less than half the yield of the least competitive, highlighting the value of variety choice in weed management,” Barry Barker pointed out.
“Also valuable here is the guidance our Advisory List provides on variety suitability for late drilling. A total of 18 varieties are identified as suitable for sowing from early November to early January, with nine rated as not ideal and six as unsuitable for the slot.”
Armed with this intelligence, Mr Barker sees a number of stand-out varieties across the range of wheat groups for those putting the priority on agronomy strength (Table). As ever, though, choosing between them depends on growers’ particular agronomic risks and priorities.
Table: Wheat Varieties for Key Agronomic Strengths
| Variety | Disease Considerations | Grassweed Considerations | Other Considerations |
| KWS Zyatt | Good on Septoria & Brown Rust Watch out for Yellow Rust |
Reasonably competitive Good flexibility for late drilling |
Good second wheat Good Hagberg stability |
| Skyfall | Excellent on Brown Rust/ Good on Septoria Watch out for Yellow Rust |
Very competitive Excellent flexibility for late drilling |
Excellent light land performance OWBM resistant |
| KWS Siskin | Excellent on Yellow Rust/Good on Septoria Watch out for Brown Rust |
Very competitive Good flexibility for late drilling |
Consistent & stable performer Wide home & export marketability |
| Elicit | Good on Septoria & Yellow Rust Fair (but best in class) on Brown Rust |
Very competitive Good flexibility for late drilling |
Step forward in Group 3 robustness Valuable soft feed alternative |
| Bennington | Reasonable on Septoria Watch out for Yellow & Brown Rust |
Very competitive Unsuitable for late drilling |
Consistently high yielding Later to mature than RL suggests |
| Elation | Good on Yellow Rust Watch out for Septoria & Brown Rust |
Very competitive Good flexibility for late drilling |
Very good light land performance OWBM resistant |
| Graham | Excellent on Yellow Rust & Septoria Watch out for Brown Rust |
Reasonably competitive Good flexibility for late drilling |
Consistently high yielding Ideally suited to the first wheat slot |
| Dunston | Good on Septoria/Fair on Yellow Rust Watch out for Brown Rust |
Very competitive Not ideal for late drilling |
Good second wheat Good light land performance |