There are two additions to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) 2022 spring bean recommended list.
The varieties are: Caprice and Victus. Both have been provisionally recommended at this stage, following four years on trial.
They were not considered for inclusion on the 2021 recommended list due to limited seed availability.
Spring bean list
Victus is the first bean variety which is claimed to have low levels of the anti-nutritional compounds, vicine and convicine.
This should make beans more attractive for inclusion in compound feeds for a wider selection of species.
Fully recommended for 2022 are the varieties Lynx and Fanfare.
Lynx is the highest yielding variety on the recommended list with good protein content. It has very good brackling and lodging resistance. In addition, the variety has good chocolate spot and downy mildew resistance, while rust resistance is low.
Fanfare is a good yielding variety with good protein content. It has very good brackling and lodging resistance, while also demonstrating good resistance to chocolate spot, downy mildew and rust.
Caprice is a good yielding variety with good protein content. It has good brackling resistance and excellent lodging resistance. Moreover, the variety has good chocolate spot, downy mildew and rust resistance.
Victus comes to market as a good yielding variety with good protein content.
Victus has moderate brackling resistance but is very resistant to lodging. In addition, the variety has good chocolate spot and downy mildew resistance. However, rust resistance is low.
Trial data
The data produced, courtesy of the DAFM-hosted variety trials is based on the results of fungicide treated trials. The exception is the disease resistance information, which uses untreated trial data.
The control varieties used were Boxer, Fanfare and Lynx in 2019 while Fanfare, Lynx and Victus were used in both 2020 and 2021.
The mean yield of the control varieties when adjusted to 15% moisture over the period 2019 to 2021, was 6.6t/ha.
The mean crude protein content was 24.7%, when expressed as a percentage of the dry matter.
A total of 10 varieties were evaluated in the Spring Bean National List / recommended list trial 2021.
These were: Alison; Bingo; Caprice; Fanfare; L G Sphinx; L G Viper; Lynx; Macho; Protina; and Victus.