By Steve Hoad, SRUC

I recall a wheat breeder saying to me: “… in Scotland, a wheat crop can celebrate its birthday.”

This seemingly flippant comment highlighted the challenges of a prolonged growing season and the rapid turnaround between cleaning-up after harvest and preparation for sowing.

Consideration of a variety’s developmental and rotational features can help growers face up to these climatic and management challenges by optimising autumn workload towards better season-long crop growth and more timely grain ripening.

As we approach mid-September, wheat varieties have been reviewed and seed choices made, here are some further points to consider before sowing this autumn’s top picks.

Costello is a hard-textured feed variety with outstanding specific weight and Hagberg figures. It is one of the most consistent wheat varieties on the list and performs best when grown as a first cereal and on heavier soils.

Elation is also highly consistent under a wide range of growing conditions. Apart from avoiding very early sowing, this distilling variety has a wide drilling window and performs well as a second cereal. It suits all soil types.

Elicit is the top pick for a dual-purpose biscuit-making and distilling variety. Whilst none of its agronomic features are outstanding, it has proven consistency in yield and quality over several years, with relatively good performance in early-sown trials.

Gleam is suited to a wide range of sowing dates, including very early drilling. This hard-textured feed variety has a slow development to stem extension, but its grain matures early. It is a good second cereal and suits all soil types. It has been very consistent in both yield and feed quality.

KWS Barrel has produced high yields in treated trials, but its untreated yield is very poor. Although relatively slow developing it is a good choice for late drilling. This biscuit and feed variety performs well on lighter textured soils. It is moderate as second cereal.

KWS Extase is fast developing and has early grain maturity. This niche hard-milling variety has excellent grain quality and exceptional performance in untreated trials. However, erratic yields may relate to ear sterility at some locations. To improve seed set, this variety should not be sown early or on exposed land.

KWS Jackal is one of the favoured choices for early drilling because of its slow speed of development. This distilling wheat has performed well as a second cereal and suits all soil textures. It has produced some good results in 2020, with grain quality meeting expectations.

LG Skyscraper is less suited to early drilling because of its relatively fast speed of development. It copes well with later drilling and is a good second cereal. It is suited to all soil types. It is the earliest maturing distilling variety.

LG Spotlight suits a wide range of sowing dates, though it does have relatively fast autumn development. This distilling variety has performed best as a first cereal and on heavier textured soils. It was one of the most consistent varieties in 2020 trials, with impressive specific weight and Hagberg figures. It is moderate as a second cereal.

LG Sundance is a slow developing variety, but limited data indicates it is not suited to very early drilling. It has low specific weight and Hagberg values compared to other distilling varieties, but its good disease resistance confers a low yield penalty in untreated trials. It is moderate as a second cereal.

Revelation is very well suited to early drilling, which offsets its rather late maturity. It suits all soil textures, though it is relatively poor as a second cereal.

RGT Saki has performed well as a second cereal. This soft-textured variety is for feed use only. From limited data, it suits a wide range of sowing dates. It is well suited to heavier textured soils and has a low yield penalty in untreated trials.

SY Insitor is a high yielding hard-textured feed variety. It has been very consistent, with excellent specific weight and Hagberg figures. It a good second cereal. Limited data suggests that it performs well on lighter textured soils and copes well when drilled late.

Sowing wheat according to a variety’s strengths and weaknesses for sowing and rotational features can benefit yield and grain quality, as well as improving overall consistency and timeliness come harvest.

Typically, Scottish wheat crops are in ground for 11 months, although in cooler summers this can be closer to 12. Optimal variety placement at sowing time will go a long way to ensuring that your wheat crop does not celebrate its anniversary.