AS THE first of the harvest results come in for this season, even the limited early harvest 'scores on the doors' so far from AHDB Harvest is showing that LG Mountain has once again shown its high yield potential in a very testing season.

It is sitting as the highest yielding two-row for this harvest so far at 106% of control. Mountain has consistently produced these high yields, since it was brought to the market in 2016 right through to 2020 – which is recognised to be one of the most challenging growing seasons for many years.

“This is a really important attribute in a variety, as growers know that whatever the season throws at them, it is able to cope,” said Ron Granger, arable technical manager for breeders Limagrain UK. “Over this time, LG Mountain has also demonstrated its ability to produce high yields in both light and heavy soils, showing its flexibility within the rotation.

“This excellent yield resilience can be attributed to the variety’s good agronomic characteristics of short straw, great disease resistance and good grain quality,” he added.

Agronomically, this is an early maturing variety at -1 and benefits from a good all round disease resistance profile, including BaYMV resistance.

Agronomy work carried out by Limagrain looking at seed rate versus PGR versus fungicide performance confirmed there was little difference in yield when Mountain was sown at seed rates of 300 seeds/m2 or 400 seeds/m2, yielding around 11.5t/ha in each scenario.

A shorter variety, the trial data suggested that yield potential can be compromised if high rate PGR programmes are used, compared to taller strawed varieties. Limagrain still recommends, though, that a good PGR programme is used to ensure straw strength and reduce brackling and especially in a high yield situation such as on heavier, fertile soil types.

The variety responds well to both low and high input fungicide programmes and again programmes should be targeted regarding the situation in hand. It also has good grain quality attributes, with a grand specific weight of 69.1, combined with good grain screening %, similar to KWS Glacier – which is an important feature in a two-row.

David Waite, regional seed manager with Frontier said one of its key attributes was a consistent set of yield scores over the past four years, through to this year’s harvest maintaining the top yield for the for the AHDB North region with one of the better specific weight scores.

* Look out in next week's issue for a comprehensive review of what's worked for which winter barleys in a special run-down on varieties from Steve Hoad, of SRUC.