Spring barley recommended and candidate lists

Latest Recommended List spring barley harvest results from Scotland and Northern Ireland giving mixed results

• Yields from four further fungicide-treated spring barley trials have brought mixed results, with average yields slipping back slightly to 7.39 t/ha, just below the five-year average
• Yields from just one more fungicide-untreated trial is available, from Scotland, with average yield remaining below the five-year average

Yields from 15 of the 20 Recommended List fungicide-treated spring barley trials are now available. Results from new trials in Midlothian, Aberdeenshire, Lanarkshire and County Down have pulled the trial average down, with only the Aberdeenshire trial yielding above the average, which now stands at 7.39 t/ha, 0.22 t/ha below the five-year average.

Just one more fungicide-untreated trial, from Midlothian, is available. Average yield of the control varieties is 5.57 t/ha, below the five-year average of 6.28 t/ha. Both the fungicide-treated and fungicide-untreated trials were low yielding at this site.

Yield calculation

Yields are represented as a percentage of the control varieties. In 2026 the control varieties comprise five malting varieties, RGT Planet, Laureate, LG Diablo, Firefoxx and Skyway. The average of the yields from the control varieties is represented as 100%.

2026 yield averages

Fungicide-treated trials

Highest yielding of the fully approved malting varieties remains SY Arrow, which is now an RAGT variety and is now fully approved for malt distilling, though still provisional for brewing, it is on 104%. Just behind is Belter on 103%, which is now fully approved for both brewing and malt distilling, with Firefoxx also on 103%. Skyway and Laureate are on 102%. SY Tennyson is now on 100%. RGT Planet and LG Diablo are both on 97%. KWS Sassy continues to struggle on 82%, well below its five-year average, with poor plant populations across trials noted previously, which likely accounts for the low yield.

Several varieties are only provisionally approved by the MBC for malting and until they are fully approved demand is likely to be limited, so growers should speak to merchants to ensure there is a market before committing to them. Of these, newly recommended Trailblazer from Secobra, which is provisionally approved for brewing and malt distilling is highest yielding on 105%. Ptarmigan, also from Secobra, which is also provisionally approved for brewing and malt distilling is on 104%. LG Aquarius, which is provisionally approved for brewing only is also on 104%. Roulette from Secobra, which is provisionally approved for brewing and malt distilling is on 102%, while KWS Enduris and newly recommended Nolan from Senova which are also provisionally approved for brewing and malt distilling are on 101%.

Shona from Elsoms remains under test for brewing and malt distilling and is recommended only for the East. It is on 101%.

The null-lox described variety CB Score is on 101%, while the described grain distilling variety Fairing is on 92%.

Three varieties have been withdrawn from the provisionally approved list of malting varieties. They will be reviewed in the autumn and may stay on the list as feed varieties if they are competitive in that market. They are Bounty from Agrovista and Firecracker from Secobra on 102%, while Olsen from Limagrain is on 99%. All three are yielding below their five-year averages.

Fungicide-untreated trials

With four of the seven fungicide-untreated trials reported there is a picture forming of performance in 2026. Fully approved SY Arrow is highest yielding in 2026 on 108% of controls, well above its five-year average, though this is driven by very good performance in the trial in Midlothian, where it yielded 120% of controls. There was no disease in this trial. Trailblazer on 107% is the next highest yielding of the malting varieties, though it is only provisionally approved. Laureate has performed well in 2026 in these trials on 106% alongside provisionally approved Roulette. Belter is on 105%.

Shona, which is still under test for malting is on 104%, while Provisionally approved varieties KWS Enduris and Ptarmigan are on 103%, along with Firefoxx.   

Firecracker which is no longer under test for malting and will be reconsidered as a feed variety in the autumn and may stay on the list as a feed variety has done well, on 107%.

Five-year averages

The five-year average values provide a better representation of performance across seasons, especially for candidates. These yield figures are used in the selection of candidates to add to the RL in the autumn, along with disease resistance ratings, grain quality, agronomic characters and importantly for potential malting varieties, the view of the MBC on malting quality.

Fungicide-treated trials

The five-year average yields generally look very similar to the current RL.  The provisionally approved malting variety Trailblazer on 106%, takes the top spot, with Belter, SY Arrow and provisional approved Roulette and Ptarmigan on 104%. Provisionally approved LG Aquarius is on 103%, while Shona, which his still under test for brewing and malt distilling is also on 103%. Market leader Laureate is just behind these on 102% alongside a large group of varieties which includes Firefoxx, Skyway and provisionally approved varieties Nolan and KWS Enduris.

Bounty, which is no longer under test for malting is on 105%, with Firecracker, also no longer under test for malting on 103%.

The Null-lox described variety CB Score is on 100%, with the described grain distilling variety Fairing on 92%.

Fungicide-untreated trials

Provisionally approved variety Roulette is highest yielding on 108%, with provisionally approved varieties Ptarmigan and KWS Enduris on 105% and Trailblazer and Nolan on 104%. Fully approved Belter is on 106% with market leader Laureate on 104%. Friefoxx, Skyway and null-lox variety CB Score are on 101%.

Firecracker which is no longer under test for malting is on 108%.

Candidates

Data can only be shown for varieties that have been added to the GB and NI variety list. So far this is just one of the three candidates, LG Dynamo. Currently its fungicide-treated yield of 105% makes it very competitive with current varieties. It has a fungicide-untreated yield of 102% in the five-year average.

Further information

Access full trial results via the AHDB website: ahdb.org.uk/harvestresults

AHDB Recommended Lists (RL) trials test variety performance under optimum conditions. Care should be taken when making comparisons with commercial yields. Results from individual trial sites should not be used to make conclusions on variety performance. The RL publications are based on information from trials across the UK over several seasons. As more information becomes available from the current harvest, this will contribute to the over-trials averages – which comprise four years for oilseeds and five years for cereals. These averages provide better information for comparison between varieties. Performance variation is not the responsibility of AHDB. Since the focus is to test new varieties, not all RL varieties are presented. Yields for well-established varieties are published at ahdb.org.uk/rl