Two new additions to the Group 2 milling wheat list KWS Palladium and Mayflower are expected to help the milling industry spread risk, after it has become increasingly reliant on a small group of varieties.

Speaking at the AHDB Recommended List (RL) launch, RL project manager Dr Paul Gosling said: These new varieties have very good grain quality and very good disease resistance.

Millers are very keen to have them on the list, which had become somewhat reliant on Extase.

KWS Palladium has a high Hagberg of 315 and has given good protein (13.1%) under a regime to achieve milling specification.

Dr Gosling added: In terms of hitting milling specification, it is a promising variety with high Hagberg, good specific weight and high protein content.

For growers that are a little bit risk averse, this is a good variety for them. It is also now the earliest variety on the RL.

A couple of points below Extases gross output in the East at 98%, Mayflower from Elsoms is classified as a ukp bread wheat for export.

It is better on grain quality than Extase and Siskin, with a Hagberg of 294 and as good as Extase for specific weight at 78.5kg/hl, Dr Gosling said.

Both varieties have good disease packages, with untreated yields of 90%, and Mayflower has the New options for millers Additions to the AHDB Recommended Lists and PGRO Descriptive Lists for 2022/23 showcase strong all-round disease packages, good grain quality and some flexibility around drilling. Alice Dyer and Teresa Rush report.

highest rating for resistance to septoria tritici for a breadmaking variety of 8.4.

After Group 3 biscuit winter wheat varieties suffered disproportionately from increased susceptibility to septoria in the 2020/21 season, the latest RL has three new Group 3s which feature a different genetic basis for their resistance to the disease, which should be more durable, according to AHDB.

KWS Guium is the highest yielding Group 3 on the new list at 102% and also has unusually good grain quality for a Group 3, Dr Gosling said.

Hagbergs tend to be lower in Group 3s but Guium has a very good Hagberg at 255 and very high specific weight of 78.1kg/hl, making it the highest on the new list.

It is recommended for the UK and is rated as ‘medium for distilling.

Guium is a bit late which might be something to consider for some growers, he added.

Late sowing Also with a high Hagberg is new addition, KWS Brium at 268, with a high specific weight of 77.3kg/hl.

Recommended for the East region only, limited data for RGT Rashid suggests it has high yield potential in a late-sowing situation.

On the soft feed variety list and also performing well in late-sowing situations, according to limited data, is RGT Bairstow.

It is rated as ‘good for distilling and is the highest yielding soft milling feed variety (103%) but has a low specific weight of 75.9kg/hl.

It also has the highest second wheat yield of any recommended variety at 104.3%.

RGT Stokes has given very high treated yields in the West region (105%), with limited data suggesting it is also very high yielding in the North region (104%).

It is likely to attract a strong following here thanks to its good distilling rating.

The variety produced the overall highest alcohol yield in 2021 of RL candidates and control varieties in Scottish Whisky Research Institute testing.

It has a low specific weight (75.3kg/hl) but good Hagberg (248).

Three new hard milling Group 4 wheats were added, including Champion as the highest yielding variety on the RL at 106%.

Champion showed high yield potential across a range of rotational positions, soil types and sowing dates.

It has a low specific weight (74.8kg/hl) but very high resistance to septoria at 8, combined with resistance to orange wheat blossom midge, resulting in a high untreated yield of 90%.

Also showing high yield potential across different scenarios, KWS Dawsum (104%) has a high Hagberg of 304 and a specific weight of 79.4kg/hl.

It has performed particularly well in the West region (106%), with limited data suggesting the same yields in the North.

The first sclerotinia-resistant OSR variety, PT303 Protector Sclerotinia, has topped the new oilseeds list with a mean gross output yield of 107%.

Its very high gross output of 108% in the East/West has driven it to the top of the list, followed closely by new addition LG Auckland, which also scores 108% for East/West regions and 108% overall.

Dr Gosling said: PT303 is a relatively tall variety but has high resistance to lodging with good stem stiffness at maturity. PT303 has high resistance to both light leaf spot and stem canker and is resistant to turnip yellows virus but does not have pod shatter.

Infection

Corteva says its trials show when sclerotinia infection levels are 25% or above, the severity of the disease in PT303 is reduced by up to 75%, protecting crops against the consequences of delayed or missed flowering fungicide applications.

LG Auckland has resistance to stem canker and light leaf spot (7), high resistance to lodging and is relatively early maturing.

It also possesses resistance to turnip yellows virus (TuYV) and pod shatter.

Combinable pea Carrington, bred by LS Plant Breeding, joins the PGRO Descriptive List (DL) for 2022 as the highest yielding variety after returning a yield of 117% in 2021 and will be available for spring 2022 sowing, according to its breeder.

In other developments, Senovas new yellow pea, Rivoli, has scored 8 for resistance to downy mildew, making it the best downy mildew rating in this group.

There were no new spring bean additions to the DL for 2022.

However, in the spring bean category, Lynx, from LS Plant Breeding, is now ahead of its competitors with a yield of 106% after being second on the 2021 list, with Ghengis and Stella following at 105%.

PGRO principal technical officer Steve Belcher says: Spring beans had a good year with all but one trial taken through to harvest.

As with peas, the difference in maturity between early and later maturing varieties was more pronounced in 2021.

Rating Commenting on peas, he adds: It is really good to see we have a number of varieties with a downy mildew rating of 8, particularly now, as from 2022 onwards we wont have a seed treatment for downy mildew in peas.

He adds a word of caution in that varietal resistance to downy mildew can vary depending on the races present in the soil and while several varieties on the DL are showing very good resistance to the disease, their rating may fall if they prove susceptible to a certain race.

Among the marrow fats, downy mildew resistance ratings have fallen, with Akoo ma rated the best with a 4.

Winter bean Pantani from LS Plant Breeding is the only newcomer to the PGRO DL for 2022 in the winter bean category, which now features eight varieties.

Short-strawed, with similar yields (93%) to Y5 variety Honey (95%), Pantani comes on to the list with a relatively low yield rating but has a maturity rating of 7.

The PGRO DL 2022 is available at pgro.org/pulse-descriptive-list

Combining peas

Carrington, as well as being the top yielding variety at 117%, has a very good rating for downy mildew (8)

Kameleon from Senova (115%) and Orchestra (111%) move to year five status and maintain a very high yield potential

New to the list for 2022 is Rivoli (Senova) which, although lower yielding, has the best downy mildew rating in this group

Bluetime, Mikka, Greenway, Kactus, Blueman and LG Aviator have also scored 8 for downy mildew resistance and both Blueman and LG Aviator also have high resistance to powdery mildew

Mantara and Rose returned to trials in 2021, with both showing very good resistance to downy mildew (8)

Akooma (96%) maintained a 11% yield advantage over Sakura and has a very large seed size

Octavia and Banshee also continued into year five of trials

Spring beans

There were no new additions to the Descriptive List (DL) for 2022 but Lynx returns to the top of the yield rankings, scoring 106%

Lynx is closely followed by Ghengis and Stella, scoring 105%, and Capri and Macho, scoring 103%

Low vicine/convicine types Bolivia and Allison were added to the 2021 DL and continue to year four with yields a little below those of Victus. Yukon (8) and Maris Bead (8) show very good resistance to downy mildew and Lynx (7) is just one point lower

Yukon continues to show early maturity. In some trials, LG Viper was particularly late to mature