It’s that time of year when cereal growers will start to consider what new seed varieties are available for the season ahead.
In some parts of the country, the start of the winter barley harvest is just four weeks away. And as soon as this is completed, it’s onwards and upwards, where oilseed rape is concerned.
Winter wheat, however, remains a very profitable and sustainable crop option for tillage farmers in the UK and Ireland.
Limagrain’s newest feed wheat addition to the 2023-2024 Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) Recommended List is LG Redwald.
It comes to market with a UK-treated yield figure of 107%.
Redwald has shown this high yield consistency across regions and very testing seasons of weather, according to AHDB.
Its high untreated yield of 92% reflects its very good disease resistance, especially for Septoria tritici. Redwald is a high tillering, big biomass plant type, so consider a lower seed rate.
Limagrain trials over several seasons show that reducing the seed rate by 20% had no effect on overall yield performance, with better lodging resistance.
Redwald is a taller variety (94cm) with a big biomass, so a well targeted, robust, split plant growth regulator (PGR) programme is recommended.
Drilling new seed varieties
Growers should not drill the new variety too early, as it does not have the characteristics associated for the early drilling situation.
It suits the standard planting window of mid-October onwards and can be drilled to the end of January.
Redwald benefits from being grown on water retentive soil types, not lighter soil types associated with drought situations.
Growers should reduce seed rates and implement a good PGR programme for heavier/fertile soils.
The new variety performs well as a first or second wheat. Sitting as a very high yielding variety in a second wheat situation, it is a valuable variety to improve gross margins in this scenario.
Redwald has good tolerance to take-all, but a low rating for eyespot. It should be managed accordingly.
While the variety has good disease resistance for Septoria tritici, and both rusts, Limagrain advises that all crops should be monitored and treated accordingly.
While trials show that a robust on-farm fungicide strategy should be implemented, a T0 spray may not be required, depending on disease pressure.
However, a robust T3 fungicide is important for protection against fusarium, and as it is a later maturing variety.
There are benefits from maintaining green leaf canopy to maximise grain fill.