Farmers planning to drill winter wheat late and who have yet to decide on which variety to choose should look to the AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds Recommended List trials results, say Elsoms.
Belgrade has performed strongest this year, points out Adrian Hayler of Elsoms, and this high yield is combined with early maturity, a strong disease resistance and agronomic package.
“Often the easy answer for those drilling later is to stick to the usual suspects, but with many struggling to make money combatting increasing disease and weed pressures is this a wise choice?”
“If you look at Belgrade’s overall package of output, disease resistance and agronomic characters, it is an ideal variety for the medium to late sowing slot now favoured by many being one of the fastest to growth stage 31, its impressive vigour forming a key element in weed control programmes.”
Concerns over Belgrade’s standing power are unwarranted, he says. “It’s consistent impressive trial results would indicate otherwise and its stiffness ratings of 6 is likely to improve. While some varieties have stronger straw ratings, that does not mean that Belgrade has weak straw.
“If you keep repeating the same actions you should not be surprised if the result is the same – one could say the same about varieties. Belgrade provides farmers with a different level of performance to those they have been struggling with in recent years,” he concludes.
