SACs Latest Recommendations on Cereals Reflects Changes in Market and Growers Needs
As with all new varieties, it is important to check any quality specifications with each customer, he says. Judgements about yield and grain quality should be balanced with other features important on the farm, such as disease risk, earliness of ripening, stiffness of straw and the ability of the plant to cope with ear loss or sprouting caused by bad harvest weather.
While some promising new varieties have been added to the list, several others have lost their place and been relegated to outclassed.
In response to the distilling and brewing markets, the quality requirements of malting barleys are becoming more precise, especially when characters affecting processing are taken into account. The variety Optic remains on the list because of its continued market share and proven reliability. Dr Hoad believes Concertos market share will increase significantly in 2011, largely at the expense of Oxbridge, which has suffered from weather-related problems and been moved to outclassed, as has Publican.
Two new spring malting barley recommendations are Shuffle and Moonshine. Both have potential for malting distilling and brewing. Shuffle is the highest yielding of the two, whilst Moonshine is early maturing.
Grain whisky production also uses high enzyme malted barley where Decanter has been the benchmark variety for some time. However its use has significantly declined, removing it from the list. Belgravia and Forensic now have full approval for this market.
With a large market for wheat to be used for grain whisky production in Scotland Steve Hoad highlights the strong preference for soft grain of large grain size and low protein content.
The market leaders remain Viscount and Alchemy, he says but there is interest in Beluga and the new recommendations in this sector are Gravitas and Denman. Both yield well, with no significant disease weaknesses. Their straw is relatively weak, but responds well to plant growth regulator. However Cassius has dropped off the list as it is rated poor for distilling.
For wheat used in biscuit making, Tuxedo is a new recommendation. It has similar yields to the existing Robigus variety, but with improved disease resistance and, like Robigus, it can be used for distilling. There are no changes to the recommendations for milling wheat or spring wheat used in bread making. Decisions about new varieties already on the UK wide HGCA recommended list have been deferred to autumn 2011.
Among the grain varieties grown for animal feed Steve Hoad points out the preferred hard feed wheats tend to be those with high yield or ease of management.
Of those, he says Stigg (a new variety for 2011) is easily managed and with excellent disease resistance. Other options are Oakley and Grafton.
There are three new recommendations for winter feed barley. Florentine is a two-row variety with stiff straw and relatively early maturity. Escadre is new six-row variety with a clear yield improvement over Sequel as an option. Element is a new six-row hybrid with very high yields and maturity slightly earlier than Volume. Meanwhile Pelican departs the list.
Where once oats were a major crop, fuelling the horsepower that kept Britain moving they now fill a significant niche, offering a healthy eating option for human consumers. There is just one addition to the oat varieties reports Dr Hoad. Canyon is a new high yielding spring variety. Its agronomic features look good, but its progress will depend on it developing a clear market-position. Leven is no longer on the spring sown oat list.
To find the full SAC recommended list go to http://www.sac.ac.uk/cereallists
The recommendations made by SAC are based on data collected as part of the HGCA Recommended Lists system. Members of the Scottish Variety Consultative Committee (Cereals) provide further advice and other input about varieties that make up the SAC list. The full data collected and the HGCA Recommended Lists are available on the HGCA website