AHDB’s online edition of the Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) 2023/24 features new varieties that deliver large yield increases, especially in barley and oilseed rape.

Paul Gosling, who manages the RL at AHDB, said: “Several years of plant-breeding advances mean the recommendation bar is set high. This means relatively few candidate varieties performed better than the best listed varieties to secure a recommendation.”

The winter barley list includes the first malting variety added since 2018. Buccaneer, from Saaten Union, offers a significant yield increase over the established two-row malting varieties, Craft and Electrum, alongside good disease resistance.

Two new two-row and one new six-row hybrid varieties add strength to winter barley feed yields (compared with current favourites). The two rows are Bolivia, from Agrii (bred by Nordic Seed), and LG Caravelle, from Limagrain. The latter offers a particularly high yield in the East region and a good specific weight. The new six-row hybrid SY Nephin, from Syngenta, is notable for its disease resistance ratings of 8 for brown rust and rhynchosporium.

There are six new spring barley varieties under evaluation by the Malting Barley Committee (MBC): three for brewing, two for brewing and malt distilling, and one for malt distilling. These offer improvements in yield and/or disease resistance (compared with the current market leaders, RGT Planet and Laureate).

The spring barley list sees feed variety Hurler added. Bred by Secobra and available through Agrii, high yield is its standout feature.

Paul said: “RL 2023/24 delivers exciting potential for brewing and distilling. However, it is a tough market to break into, with varietal success determined by end users. As varieties can fail to make the grade, farmers should talk to merchants before growing them.”

The winter oilseed rape list features three new UK-recommended hybrid varieties: Vegas and Turing, from LSPB, and Attica, from Limagrain. Turing and Attica have especially high yields in the North region.

Also recommended for the North region is LG Wagner, from Limagrain, achieved the highest yield in this region and possesses good resistance to light leaf spot.

A new conventional variety for the UK, Tom, from CBI, offers a small yield increase but adds options for this important seed-market component. The list also includes Beatrix from DSV, a new Clearfield variety for the North region.

RL 2023/24 features the first newly added winter oat variety since RL 2018/19. Cromwell, from Senova, offers good yield and grain quality. New spring oat variety RGT Vaughan also features good grain quality.

For winter wheat, the latest RL includes one new UKFM Group 2 bread-making variety, KWS Ultimatum, and one new UKFM Group 3 biscuit-wheat variety, RGT Wilkinson. The list also adds two new feed varieties for the East/West region: hard-textured Oxford, from DSV, and soft-textured LG Redwald. The latter requires careful lodging management. There is also a new soft Group 4 for the North region, KWS Zealum, which is likely to be of interest to the distilling market.

Three new varieties have been added to the spring wheat list, offering good grain quality and yields: UKFM Group 1 KWS Harsum, which has particularly high yield, and UKFM Group 2 KWS Alicium and KWS Lightum.

Meanwhile AHDB are conducting a major review of the Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) starting with a questionnaire for farmers. Jenna Watts, AHDB Head of Crop Health and IPM, said: “We need to hear from farmers to help us hone the RL so it continues to fit the complex decision-making needs of modern farming businesses.

“This is a thorough review and will leave no stone unturned. It will cover many aspects, from the type and nature of the trials to the way data is analysed and variety decisions are made. It will also investigate how results reach farmers and ensure that the RL continues to deliver the best value to industry.”

Arable consultant and former AHDB advisor, Gavin Dick, said: “The recommended list is a really important tool. Independent assessment of all the varieties available to farmers has been vital to progress in the sector. It is challenging to do, as AHDB is under a lot of pressure from breeders and they have to cover all of the UK with independent trials. Trying something like that, there is always going to be compromise.

“The challenges in the sector are changing, look at the drought in the South-east of England. And it is not just climate change but also resilience or which crop sequesters more emissions and which variety performs better with reduced inputs. All of this makes the RL even more important. But we have to remember the RL is not an absolute it is guide to be used alongside all the other information when deciding what is best for the farm.”