A quartet of new biscuit wheats has been added to the new AHDB Recommended List from Limagrain UK.

Its' reputation for producing great biscuit wheat varieties, from Claire to more recently Zulu and Britannia, has continued with the introduction of LG Prince, LG Illuminate, LG Quasar and LG Astronomer.

These all offer an improvement in yield potential in the biscuit sector, combined with good agronomic attributes of stiff straw, good disease resistance ratings for the rusts, septoria tritici and orange wheat blossom midge (OWBM) resistance.

“Importantly, these should not be just considered as solely biscuit wheats, as they all have the additional end market of potential for distilling and two of them also have uks export opportunities on top, for a full marketing outlet opportunity,” pointed out Limagrain’s cereals and pulses product manager, Tom Barker.

“A breeder getting a couple of varieties onto the Recommended List is quite an achievement, but getting four new listed in the Group 3 biscuit wheat category is very unusual, and an achievement that should be recognised."

LG Prince is the highest yielding biscuit variety with distilling ability, with a UK yield of 103%, with a high yield potential in the East, of 104%. “LG Prince performs well across a range of soil types, and has proven itself to be a very good second wheat, yielding 104% of control, which is significant as this is up there with the best feed wheat yields,” added Mr Barker.

“A short stiff-strawed variety, LG Prince has a later maturity, with good disease resistance for the rusts and septoria tritici, and offers OWBM resistance.”

A biscuit wheat offering distilling and uks export, LG Illuminate is the next highest yielding of Limagrain’s new biscuits, and has done well in the North at 102% of control – standing out for its consistency of performance over seasons and across regions.

“LG Illuminate is particularly impressive in the earlier sowing situation,” noted Mr Barker. “Its grain quality attributes are similar to KWS Firefly, but with a better specific weight and good sprouting resistance. Agronomically, LG Illuminate offers disease resistance against the rusts and septoria tritici, as well as OWBM."

LG Astronomer is a distilling variety backed up by an exceptional agronomic package. “This is a tall, but very stiff-strawed variety, with one of the best disease resistance packages available on the RL, offering resistance ratings of 9’s for the rusts and an excellent rating of 7.4 for septoria tritici,” said Mr Barker.

“Combined with OWBM resistance, a very good grain quality and a specific weight of 77.8 kg/hl, these make it a secure variety for growing on farm with minimum risk.”

LG Quasar is the second of the biscuits offering both distilling and uks export. It has a grain quality similar to the current market leader in the sector, KWS Firefly. A taller-strawed variety, with good lodging resistance, it is suitable for mid to late drilling. The variety is later maturing, with similar attributes to its parent, Cougar.