Winter Barley Recommended List Varieties.

How can fungicide performance on barley be optimised?

Projects:

• Fungicide performance information for barley growers (3462)
• Improving resource use efficiency in barley, through protecting sink capacity (3458)

Research Manager: Paul Gosling
Detail: HGCA funds independent Fungicide Performance trials (3462) to provide accurate and timely information on field activity of fungicides. In addition to aiding product choices, HGCA-funded work (3458) is providing guidance on optimising application timings for best effect.

Which fungicides perform best on wheat?

Projects:

• Fungicide Performance in Winter Wheat (3734)

Research Manager: Paul Gosling

Detail: HGCA's Fungicide Performance trials aim to provide independent information on the activity of key products on the main foliar diseases of wheat (septoria, yellow and brown rusts and powdery mildew) and monitor for changes in the sensitivity of pathogens to active ingredients.

How can we protect fungicide performance?

Projects:

• Improved tools to rationalise and support stewardship programmes for SDHI fungicides to control cereal diseases in the UK (3517)
• Identification and characterisation of azole sensitivity shifts in Irish and UK populations of Mycosphaerella graminicola sampled from HGCA-Fungicide Performance winter wheat trials (3713)

Detail: Fungicides are an essential part of most disease control programmes. However, fungicide applications need to be carefully managed in order to minimise the risks of resistance to key active ingredients developing. HGCA is funding research to provide a better understanding of resistance so that threats can be managed and the long-term product performance can be maintained.

How can nitrogen fertiliser be used more efficiently?
Projects:

• Automating Nitrogen fertiliser management for winter cereals (3530)
• Establishing best practice for SNS estimation (3425)
• Minimising nitrous oxide intensities of arable crop products (3474)

Research Manager: James Holmes and Shamal Mohammed

Detail: The price of nitrogen (N) fertiliser continues to increase and regulations and government environmental targets relating to fertiliser use are becoming ever more stringent.

HGCA is funding a range of research projects to help the arable industry improve the efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of nitrogen fertiliser use.

Feed and Fuel: what are the benefits of using wheat for bioethanol production?

Projects:

• Environmental and nutritional benefits of bioethanol co-products (ENBIO) (3638)
• The nutritional value for poultry of biofuel co-products (PhD) (3622)

Research Manager: Harley Stoddart

Detail: As the UK biofuel production capacity increases, there is a lot of interest being shown in improving the use of bioethanol co-products by the livestock sector.

HGCA is collaborating with other divisions within the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board to help improve the exploitation of wheat for feed and fuel.

How can we ensure varieties are robust enough to withstand future agronomic challenges?

Projects:

• Screening for costs of disease resistance caused by stomatal dysfunction (Defra) (3670)
• Control of Ramularia Leaf Spot (BBSRC) (3441)
• Identification and characterisation of resistance to the take-all fungus in wheat (PhD) (3480)
• Control of infertility in wheat by phenotype screening and genetic analysis of varieties and breeding lines (Defra LINK) (3438)
• Adaptive winter wheat populations: development, genetic characterisation and application (Defra) (3378)
• New wheat root ideotypes for improved resource use efficiency and yield performance in reduced input agriculture (Defra ) (3575)

Research Manager: Vicky Foster

Detail: The Recommended Lists are HGCA's biggest project. But, behind the scenes, HGCA is also funding a large amount of pre-breeding research to ensure that breakthroughs in varietal traits continue and that yield potential continues to increase.

How can we ensure varieties are able to meet market requirements?

Projects:

• Improving the N response of wheat varieties (BBSRC) (3409)
• Integrated strategy to prevent mycotoxin risks (Defra LINK) (3453)
• Reducing the carbon footprint of the lubricants industry by the substitution of mineral oil with rapeseed oil (Defra) (3356)
• Delivery of Ppd alleles and markers, QTL for earliness per se and novel variation from synthetic wheat useful to UK/EU wheat improvement (BBSRC) (3278)

Detail: HGCA's pre-breeding research programme also helps to ensure that the varieties of tomorrow are able to meet end user requirements. Research includes developing varietal resistance to pathogens that increase mycotoxin risk and developing varieties that can meet protein content specifications with minimum inputs.

Winter Wheat
Candidates

Marketing Area

Find out about HGCA's work to support and develop markets for your oilseeds and grain, including:

• Education
• Meet The Processor
• Consumer campaigns
• Exports

Highlights

• Pick up free educational resources and find out how to connect with your local school
• Meet HGCA's export arm and join an exports variety plot tour at 3pm on Day One and 10am on Day Two
• Find out how you can support HGCA's nutrition campaigns, including Farmhouse Breakfast Week

Publications

Here you will find HGCAs latest publications to take away for free.

Quality Storage Area

Pick up your free grain sampling bucket full of publications and answer our questionnaire for a chance to win a moisture meter

Plot tours start here
Plots include varieties currently on the RL as well as candidates for wheat and spring barley vying for inclusion on the Recommended Lists 2013/14. Informal tours of the winter wheat candidate varieties, which are this year grouped together within their crop area, will be available by arrangement.

Wheat
Dr Simon Oxley, Senior Research and Knowledge Transfer Manager, and Bill Handley, Recommended Lists Technical Manager, will give details of field performance with a representative of the UK milling industry describing the suitability of each variety from their viewpoint.

Day one (13th June) tour times - 9.00, 10.30, 11.00, 12.30, 14.00, 16.00
Day two (14th June) tour times - 11.00, 12.45, 14.30

Barley
Peter Hanson, Recommended Lists Trials Consultant, and a UK malting industry representative will summarise the current crop of winter and spring barley varieties.

Day one (13th June) tour times - 11.00, 14.45
Day two (14th June) tour times - 11.00

Oilseed Rape
New for this year, an audio tour of the oilseed rape plots will be available to download from the website as an MP3 before the event.

Exports
Day one (13th June) tour time - 15.00
Day two (14th June) tour time - 10.00

Market Intelligence
Building on the success of last year, a short market outlook by the AHDB/HGCA Market Intelligence team will take place at the beginning of each wheat tour. In addition, there will key market information on display within the variety plots for all crops.

HGCA Business Area

Discover the tools and initiatives available from HGCA to help you manage your business.

• Market Information
  Join the AHDB/HGCA Market Intelligence team for the latest on UK and global cereals and oilseeds markets
  Senior Analyst: Jack Watts
  
  
• HGCA Arable Business Groups
  Find out about Arable Business Groups in your area and how to get involved
  Arable Business Manager: Pat Thornton
  
  
• - HGCA Arable Monitor Farms
  Meet the Monitor Farmers Andrew Booth and Alistair Hodge at 12pm (both days) in the main marquee
  Business Improvement Manager: Steve Barras
  

Collaborating to achieve more

The research on show in HGCA's research plots this year involves collaboration with around 150 organisations. These organisations bring the skills and funding to maximise the return on HGCA's investment. HGCA collaborates with research institutes, plant breeders, levy boards, processors, industry and government organisations.

BBSRC will be present on the stand to talk about some of the larger collaborative projects.

How can we improve the marketability and sustainability of oats?

Projects:

• Harnessing new technologies for sustainable oat production and utilisation (Defra) (QUOATS) (3556)

Research Manager: Dhan Bhandari
Detail: Oat production in the UK has slowly been declining. Project 3556 is looking to improve varieties for human and livestock consumption.

Growers urged to look at oats as a new crop (Farmers Weekly article)

Oilseed Rape Recommended List Varieties.

Is there a better way to manage weeds?
Projects:

• New approaches to weed control in OSR (3605)
• Improving OSR crops for effective weed control (3652)
• New strategies to autumn grass weed control in OSR (3341)

Research Manager: Caroline Nicholls

Detail: HGCA is developing more sustainable solutions for weed management.

Projects 3605 and 3652 are looking at the use of wide row spacings and inter-row herbicide applications to reduce reliance on herbicides.

Part of this is looking to determine the optimum row spacing and plant population to balance weed control and yield.

Project 3341 is looking at how existing herbicides can be used in stacking and sequencing strategies to achieve best control.

How does increasing the frequency of oilseed rape in the rotation impact on yield and profitability?

Projects:

• Impact of previous cropping on winter oilseed rape yields (2922)
• The impact of oilseed rape cropping frequency on rooting (3649)
• The impact of oilseed rape cropping frequency on components of yield (3648)

Research Manager: Amanda Bennett
Detail: Shortening rotations has already been found to increase the risk of soil-borne disease but it reduces yield in other ways too.

Projects 2922, 3649 and 3648 have shown that shorter rotations reduce rooting, early vigour, flowering period and seed development. The projects have examined yield from a variety of different rotation scenarios and have demonstrated how this affects profitability at a range of different grain prices.

How can soil-borne diseases be managed?
Projects:

• Management of clubroot (plasmodiophora brassicae) in winter oilseed rape (3373)
• Development of in-field testing for resting spores of clubroot (3525)
• Importance and management of Verticillium wilt in winter oilseed rape (3618)

Research Manager: Amanda Bennet
Detail: Verticillium wilt and clubroot are two of the most important diseases affecting oilseed rape. HGCA has recently published Topic Sheet 110 to help growers minimise the threat from the clubroot. Verticillium wilt is less well known. Project 3618 will establish the extent of the disease in UK crops and then look at management strategies.

How can the threat from aphids be managed?
Projects:

• Sustaining the effectiveness of new insecticides against aphid pests in the UK (3471)
• Strategies to reduce the impact of Turnip Yellows Virus on oilseed rape production in the UK (3498)
• Aphid advisory alerts

Research Manager: Caroline Nicholls
Detail: Limiting aphid spread through aphicide applications can help to prevent the spread of Turnip Yellows Virus (TuYV) in oilseed rape.

Project 3471 is monitoring aphicide resistance and has indicated that resistance could become more problematic in the future.

Resistance was unlikely to have been a problem this autumn but the prolonged aphid activity which saw migration lasting well into the winter has led to fears of increased TuYV levels this year.

Project 3498 is looking at ways of managing and minimising the risk of TuYV, including assessing varietal resistance, to reduce reliance on aphicides.

Winter Wheat
Group 1&2
Recommended List Varieties

Winter Wheat
Group 3
Recommended List Varieties

Winter Wheat
Group 4
Recommended List Varieties

Spring Barley Recommended List Varieties.