Latest Recommended Lists features a record number of variety traits

AHDB’s online edition of the Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) 2022/23 features a record number of variety types and traits.

AHDB’s online edition of the Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) 2022/23 features a record number of variety types and traits.

Launched today (29 November 2021), the edition introduces new traits for barley (including BYDV tolerance), an improved choice of spring and winter milling wheat varieties, as well as new options for brewing and distilling.

RL 2022/23 also features improvements to cereal lodging resistance ratings and additional information on resistance to septoria tritici in winter wheat.

Paul Gosling, who manages the RL at AHDB, said: “Spread across the crops, dozens of new varieties are available. The improved choice includes many exciting new traits, which will help growers manage crops and target potential new markets.”

In 2020, a new disease rating system for cereal rusts was introduced to provide greater differentiation in scores. Similarly, the RL 2022/23 is based on an improved calculation approach for lodging resistance.

Paul said: “We revised the cereal lodging ratings to help pull apart varietal differences. This will make the ratings more representative of what is seen in the field and improve their consistency. Although ratings have fallen for some varieties, this is a consequence of calculation change, not an increased susceptibility to lodging.”

Following high levels of septoria tritici in the 2020/21 growing season and concerns about the breaking of resistance, AHDB issued the RL 2022/23 winter wheat disease ratings early (September). This saw a rating fall for many varieties. Two ratings were issued: based on the standard three-year (2019–21) and a one-year (2021) data set. The latter ratings help reveal last season’s impact and varieties most likely to benefit from closer monitoring.

New recommendations for winter wheat include varieties with an alternative genetic basis of resistance to septoria tritici, which should make useful contributions to the control of this important foliar disease.

The system for oilseed rape has also changed to make it easier to recommend conventional open-pollinated varieties.

Paul said: “Open-pollinated varieties remain popular. However, there was a danger that they would be completely lost from the RL in favour of hybrid varieties. Changes to our selection procedures should help maintain the recommendation of strong conventional options.”

Available for the major crop types, more detailed variety comments illustrate how a greater diversity of options – delivered by plant breeders – has strengthened varietal traits for yield, agronomy, disease and quality characteristics.

The RL 2022/23 for wheat, barley, oats and winter oilseed rape, and variety comments, can be accessed online, alongside updated descriptive lists for spring oilseed rape, spring linseed, winter triticale and winter rye. The print edition will be available later this winter.

Variety comments for winter wheat

The milling industry has become increasingly reliant on a small group of varieties. The RL 2022/23 features two new Group 2 winter wheat bread-making varieties with strong disease resistance. These new options will help the industry spread risk.

Group 3 biscuit-winter wheat varieties suffered disproportionately from the increased susceptibility to septoria tritici in the 2020/21 season. The latest RL sees the inclusion of three new Group 3s. These feature a different genetic basis for their resistance to septoria tritici, which should be more durable. Two new soft Group 3s, which have been rated good for distilling, have particularly good yields in the North region.

Two new hard Group 4s show strong yields, as well as good grain quality and disease resistance. These have already generated a lot of interest. A third Group 4 also displays good disease resistance and untreated yield.

Variety comments for winter barley

RL 2022/23 features four new winter barley feed varieties. The two two-row varieties offer improvements to disease resistance and untreated yield. One of the two new six-row barleys is the first conventional variety added since 2017. It offers improved grain quality, as well Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) tolerance – the first barley on the RL to demonstrate this trait.

Variety comments for spring barley

Three new spring barley varieties, under test for brewing, offer treated and untreated yield increases over the current market leaders. The spring barley list also sees a described Null-Lox variety added with specific quality traits of interest to some brewers. The success of such varieties will depend on their uptake by the brewing industry.

Variety comments for winter oilseed rape

The winter oilseed rape list has four new varieties in specialist categories, along with several hybrids and two conventional varieties for the UK, East/West and North regions. These varieties show improvements to yields and disease resistance.

AHDB has issued a call for growers and agronomists to join its influential crop committees, which play a vital role in the recommendation of cereal and oilseed varieties for the UK. Currently, there are five vacancies (application deadline is 19 January 2022):

• Wheat Crop Committee – two grower vacancies and one agronomist vacancy
• Barley and Oats and Other Cereals Crop Committee – one grower vacancy
• Oilseeds Crop Committee – one agronomist vacancy