High hopes for organic milling wheat varieties

Buzzer (bread by Saaten Union) has shown good yield capability, ranking second highest yield at one trials site (8.6 tonnes per hectare) and a very high level of disease resistance, said the company’s Roger Wyartt, speaking at the National Organic Cereals Event, organised by Organic Farmers and Growers and hosted by Clive Martin, at Whitegates Farm, near March, Cambridgeshire.

However, while the variety has milling quality, it does not have the very high protein levels of Pireneo, an Austrian-bred variety grown extensively in France.

“Pireneo is a little taller than Buzzer and it does have a spectacularly high protein, but that comes with a slight yield penalty,” he said. “The variety has no disease problems,” he added.

Promising

Rochfort, another potential milling variety also looks promising but there was, as yet, little data on the variety.

Other wheats to look out for include Chilton (DSV), which is in the first year of OSP trials, and if it does well later this year it will be grown for seed by the company, said Mr Wyartt.

In three out of the last four years on heavy land trial sites, a triticale variety had out-yielded the best performing wheats (8.72t/ha compared with 8.35t/ha respectively).

“Benetto was the highest yielder on all our sites in 2009, but was beaten on lower yielding sites in 2010 by short strawed variety Grenado,” said OSP’s John Bradwell. Two relatively new triticale varieties included Agostino - which rivals Benetto for yield - and Constant, a more bulky crop with good yield and possibilities for autumn sown forage mixtures. Triticale variety Agrano is unusual in it can be sown in the autumn or the spring.

Second cereal

“Triticale performs well on a lot of different soil types and is well placed as a second cereal in the rotation after wheat, but the crucial thing for growers is to have a market for it beforehand,” said Mr Bradwell.

Oat variety Mascani, although showing signs of the drought conditions experienced this season, is a popular choice with organic growers and had come first and second in yield performance in the last two years. Naked oat Mason is only in its second year of OSP trials and, while more data will be collected in the next two seasons, it has yielded well so far.

Brochan, a relatively short and stiff-strawed oat variety which also provided good ground cover, had been the highest yielding oat variety on two very different soil types.

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