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Two out of three new winter barley varieties recommended by the Department of Agriculture this year claim to be tolerant to barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV).
In total, nine varieties have made the cut and four claim some sort of tolerance to BYDV. The recommended list was published this week.
The winter barley list is perhaps one of the most progressive cereal lists, with a great choice of varieties.
Just four of the nine varieties listed are two-row varieties. The remaining five varieties are six-row barleys and three of these are six-row hybrid varieties.
While the list has changed, an old reliable remains in place. KWS Cassia was first listed in 2011 and it has the highest hectolitre weight on the list at 69.2KPH.
KWS Tardis is seen as the natural follow-on variety for anyone who is a fan of Cassia and it performs well on hectolitre weight as well, with a score of 68.3KPH.
Tardis is the second-highest-yielding two-row variety with a relative yield of 101.
New variety Orcade, which has tolerance to BYDV, impresses on quality. It has an outstanding thousand grain weight (TGW) of 63.3g – some 4.9g ahead of the second-highest TGW.
It is no surprise then that Orcade tops the yield on two-row varieties at a relative yield of 103. Orcade also has a high hectolitre weight at 68.2, but SY Canyon has the highest bushel of the new varieties and the second highest on the list at 69.
New variety Integral also claims tolerance to BYDV. It is an early ripener, with a score of eight on earliness of maturity. It’s not the tallest variety on the list, but has a score of seven for resistance to lodging.
Almost all varieties score a seven for resistance to net blotch. Belfry and SY Armadillo stand out for resistance to rhynchosporium with scores of eight. Orcade scores an eight against brown rust.
The highest yielder on the list is SY Canyon at a relative yield of 109. SY Armadillo follows at 107, KWS Joyau at 105 and Integral at 104. Belfry and Orcade both come in at 103.
BYDV-tolerant varieties take up 44% of the seed area this year. KWS Joyau, Integral and Orcade claim to be tolerant of BYDV. Molly claims to be resistant to BYDV.
BYDV-tolerant varieties can still show symptoms of the virus, but they should not be affected on yield.
BYDV-tolerant varieties can take some of the risk out of early planting. As we know, it’s a fine balance between lowering disease and virus risk and getting crops planted into good conditions.
BYDV-tolerant and resistant varieties allow for earlier planting with a lower risk of BYDV and are also a big help if weather does not allow crops to be sprayed.
It should also be noted that some BYDV-tolerant varieties mature very early, so this is something to watch out for.
These varieties can spread workload by planting early and harvesting early, but don’t plant the whole farm in them or you could have a lot of cutting ahead of you at one time.
You can see the list of varieties in Table 1 and the planted seed area for 2024 in Table 2 to give an idea of how much of each variety will be available.
In order to have the best chance of securing the varieties you would like to grow and which will suit your farm, you should order your seed as soon as possible.
This is easier said than done as we finish the first week of September and have plenty of crops to be harvested and baled.
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