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With harvest well under way, attention turns to next season’s cropping choices and variety selections.

Farmers Weekly takes a closer look at the top Group 2 and Group 4 winter wheat varieties suited for the South West, which is renowned for its higher rainfall and septoria pressure.

See also: Farm trial prompts winter barley fungicide rejig

Group 2 variety Palladium is a new addition to the UK domestic bread markets, and with enough seed available to take 3% of the seed market share this autumn, it could well be a worthy replacement for popular choice Extase.

Thanks to its scores for septoria (7.2), mildew (8), yellow rust (9) and eyespot (6), it is a clean variety with one of the highest untreated yields on the market.

Although its septoria resistance rating has dropped ever so slightly from 7.4 to 7.2, its agronomic package performs well.

Duncan Connabeer, technical support manager at agronomy firm Hutchinsons, says the early-to-mature variety has good straw stiffness and yield potential of 101% in the West.

“Palladium is certainly a useful addition for the South West, with a good disease resistance package and no great weaknesses. It also performs well as both a first and second wheat,” he explains.

Hutchinsons’ Duncan Connabeer © MAG/Emma GIllbard

Importantly, its septoria resistance has a different genetic basis than other Group 2 varieties. It also has good resistance to sprouting, and is suited to early drilling.

Newcomer Group 2 variety Mayflower shows the second highest septoria resistance on the AHDB Recommended List (RL), with a resistance score of 8.4, after Theodore’s 9.

This is ahead of Palladium on 7.2 and Extase on 7.3, with both Mayflower and Palladium having a yellow rust resistance score of 9.

The variety has a good specific weight, at 78.5kg/hl, but a lower yield of 97%, which makes it more suited to a low-input system, says Mr Connabeer.

Further benefits include a greater nitrogen use efficiency with the ability to produce a higher protein percentage in its grain compared with most other varieties grown at the same nitrogen rate, as well as a broader diversity in its parentage compared with other wheat varieties.

“As a new variety, limited seed is available for drilling this season, but it is certainly one to watch in the South West,” he says.

Extase has proven to be a strong contender with good agronomic performance, easy management and the greatest untreated yield of any variety on the RL at 93% of control.

Although its septoria rating has fallen from 7.8 to 7.3, it still remains in a comfortable position to combat disease, but saying this, other varieties now offer higher scores.

Talk of disease resistance breaking to a new strain of yellow rust in the East means that the Extase area planted in this region is suspected to fall. However, there is no denying that this variety still remains a contender for the South West.

Just like its name suggests, the Group 4 feed wheat Champion tops this year’s RL with the highest overall yield of 106% and 105% for the West. It also boasts the third highest untreated yield at 90% and specific weight of 74.8kg/hl.

Champion looks to have great potential, which is why Mr Connabeer is plugging the variety to become one of the top performers in the South West.

With 8s for both septoria and yellow rust resistance, it offers some of the best scores on the RL as well as orange wheat blossom midge resistance.

Not only this, but it is suited to all soil types and regions, which is very rare for a variety.

Saying this, champion is not suited for early drilling in September as its five-day faster growth rate compared to most other varieties makes it ideal for the later drilling period, with February being its drill date cut-off.

Mr Connabeer lists the variety’s pitfalls as a potential susceptibility to eyespot, which makes it best suited as a first wheat, and due to its high yields, straw quality can be weaker.

Referred to as the wheat variety “king of septoria”, Theodore boasts the first ever septoria resistance rating of 9, up from its 8.5 score last year.

“Theodore certainly looks really exciting and has performed well in our trials network. In fact, untreated plots looked greener and cleaner than other variety treated plots.

“This makes it a real contender for the South West, which is faced with high disease pressure.”

With a treated yield of 102% in the West, it is one of the highest yielding varieties for this area.

It also has the highest score for yellow rust (9) and a strong brown rust score of 7, with good lodging resistance in both treated and untreated plots.

Its only downfall is its low specific weight of 73.8kg/hl, which falls behind most cultivars on the RL and means grain size can be an issue.

“This creates a slight conundrum because Theodore offers such fantastic septoria control. One way around this is making wholecrop silage, which suits the variety well.

Another solution to overcome this could be incorporating it into a wheat variety blend to reap the benefits of its wholesome disease resistance package while achieving an overall higher specific weight.

Afterall, the purpose of a blend is not to outperform on yield, but to reduce disease pressure and amalgamate characteristics of a range of wheats, says Mr Connabeer.

Old favourite feed wheat Graham continues to perform well in the South West with a good disease profile and specific weight of 76.5kg/hl, despite its septoria resistance weakening from resistance score 6.7.

“With proven on-farm performance, we know what Graham has to offer and growers know how to get the best out of it. It also offers good resistance to sprouting, which is a worthy trait here in the wetter South West.”

With this in mind, growers that have consistently achieved good results from Graham may find it hard to move to another variety.

As input prices fly high, varieties that minimise risk on farm will be in demand.

Duncan Connabeer was talking at a Hutchinsons’ variety trial open day in Cornwall, near Bodmin, last month. A follow-up meeting to announce the yield results and findings is to be held on 23 November.

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