Rating varieties for the best of winter wheats

AARDVARK (102) Twyfords

A hard endosperm feed variety with limited bread-making potential, not added to the list last year, but being reconsidered. Good all round disease resistance, does well as a second wheat. Can produce Low Hagberg Falling Numbers.

BUCHAN (101, 78) Nickersons

A soft endosperm variety for feed and distilling. Very short and stiff, recommended for northern regions. Susceptible to yellow rust.

BUSTER (98, 72) Nickersons

A hard endosperm variety with very short straw. Now becoming outclassed. Very susceptible to brown rust and mildew.

CHARGER (101, 77) PBI

A hard endosperm group 2 variety with some bread-making quality, particularly suited to late sowing. Good resistance to yellow rust and produces grain with high zeleny values. Susceptible to fusarium, ear blight and sprouting.

CLAIRE (102, 79) Nickersons

A soft endosperm group 3 variety, best as a first wheat on heavy soils. Good biscuit-making potential. Stiff-strawed with excellent resistance to everything except mildew. Prone to sprouting.

CONSORT (102, 70) PBI

A soft endosperm group 3 variety, suitable for biscuit, export, distilling or feed which has made it a popular choice. A short, stiff variety with good resistance to yellow rust, however, it is very susceptible to Septoria tritici. Never looks good but always does well.

EQUINOX (102, 76) Twyfords

A hard endosperm feed variety; can produce very high yields on fertile soils. Very short, stiff straw with good yellow rust resistance; produces very bold grain. No good as a second wheat, very susceptible to Septoria.

HEREWARD (92, 74) PBI

A hard endosperm group 1 variety, the standard by which all milling varieties are chosen. High proven specific weights and zeleny values, with good standing ability. Now low-yielding compared to Malacca.

MADRIGAL (103, 76) PBI

A soft endosperm variety with short, stiff straw; producing grain of high specific weight. Very susceptible to Septoria tritici and yellow rust.

MALACCA (98, 76) Twyfords

A group 1 hard endosperm bread-making variety. 6pc higher yielding than Hereward, the variety is gradually growing in popularity. Good all-round disease resistance with good straw strength. Its only weakness can be moderate specific weights.

NAPIER (106, 81) PBI

A hard endosperm feed variety with short, stiff straw. The highest yielding variety on the list, with good disease resistance and bold grain. Susceptible to yellow rust and fusarium ear blight.

REAPER (101, 76) NFC

A weak-strawed feed variety now outclassed. Very susceptible to yellow rust.

RIALTO (101, 80) PB1

A hard endosperm group 2 variety. Good yield and quality have made this a popular dual purpose choice, but it is weak-strawed and susceptible to yellow rust.

RIBAND (100, 64) PBI

A group 3 variety suitable for many markets, now becoming outclassed. Very stiff-strawed but very very susceptible to Septoria tritici.

SAVANNAH (105, 74) Advanta

A hard endosperm feed variety which gives very high treated yields. Good resistance to mildew and rust but very susceptible to Septoria tritici.

SHAMROCK (97, 81) Advanta

A hard endosperm bread-making variety. Short, stiff straw with good resistance to mildew and Septoria nodorum; produces high specific weights and zeleny values. Unfortunately, susceptible to brown rust and eyespot, therefore only grown as a first wheat.

BISCAY (106) Twyfords

A hard endosperm feed with good treated yields, resistant to brown rust, producing bold grain.

DEBEN (106) Nickersons

A soft endosperm feed wheat, very high yields of treated and untreated grain due to very good disease resistance. Only weakness appears to be susceptibility to eyespot.

OPTION (103) PBI

A hard endosperm bread-making wheat; with yields similar to Consort, must be good. Good resistance to yellow rust and high specific weights; the bad news is susceptible to mildew and eyespot.

OXBOW (106) PBI

A hard endosperm feed variety. Very high treated yields with very stiff straw, producing grain of high specific weight. Good resistance to yellow and brown rust. Susceptible to Septoria and can have low H F N.

TANKER (106) Elsoms

A hard endosperm short-strawed variety, producing bold grain resistant to brown rust. Susceptible to Septoria nodorum with moderate specific weight.

Derek's decisions

* For bread-making, Malacca now surpasses Hereward but do be sure of your market and outlet before sowing these quality varieties. Small premiums can, however, now compensate for the lower yields at the projected price levels. The group 2 Rialto Soissons and Charger fall between two stools, with lower than feed yield and insufficient premium to compensate, so don't grow these.

* Claire must be worth an acreage to displace Consort and Riband in the biscuit group.

* Of the feeds, why grow anything other than Savannah or Napier which are the highest yielders?

* Of the candidate varieties, none of the feed show any advantage over Savannah or Napier. Only Option, the high-yielding bread-making potential variety, has any great merit, perhaps one for the speculative seed grower only.

PICTURE: PICTURED examining a plot of the milling wheat Shamrock are (from left) GrainCo trader Jonathon Pearse, Farmway general sales manager Paul Bathurst and seeds manager David Hamilton during an open day. The event was held at Grange Farm, Croft, to show Farmway crop varieties. "Interest was shown in Claire as a soft wheat," said Mr Hamilton. "On the feed side, Savannah is likely to retain its popularity, while for milling wheats there is interest in Shamrock and Malacca, both of which are 5pc higher yielding than Hereward, the present market leader. Mr Hamilton said that Regina, the most widely-grown variety, was likely to remain popular. "But going round on the day, there was a lot of interest in Heligan, a two-row feed variety which gives a very bold sample, and also in Damas, a six-row variety giving high yields and good quality grain."