Winter barley varieties are staying fairly steady for the season ahead. Just one new variety, Littoral, makes it into seed production, but there are some varieties coming down the line.

Orcade takes up the majority of the winter barley seed area currently in production at 32%, KWS Tardis follows at 20%, along with KWS Joyau at 12% and Integral at 10%. Littoral takes up 1% of the seed area (see Figure 1).

Two-row varieties take up 69% of the seed area and six-rows take up 31%. Hybrid varieties take up 8% of the seed.

Speaking at the Irish Seed Trade Association’s open day Séamus Kearney of the Department of Agriculture said that Integral and Joyau lifted the game on conventional six-row grain yield, quality and straw.

He did note to watch out for mildew and net blotch which he saw this season.

SY Quantock.

BYDV

Of the varieties in trial for the recommended list 10 are tolerant to Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV), two have a breeder claim of resistance to BYDV and eight have no tolerance to BYDV. The Department commented at its trials visit that in the absence of BYDV tolerance or resistance traits varieties have to be really good to make it onto the list.

SY Kestrel.

New varieties

New variety Littoral is currently in trial and the variety is BYDV tolerant and has excellent straw strength with excellent resistance to brackling and lodging.

It’s reported to be up there with Cassia on Ramularia resistance which is something to note in the current climate. The Department described Littoral as a later version of Integral.

Lodging trials at the Department of Agriculture's trial site at Backweston Farm. \ Claire Nash

SY Armadillo has exited the recommended list and seed production, but SY Canyon which was added to the list last year is the highest yielding variety on the recommended list. Canyon is described as a hybrid barley with two-row quality. To put its grain quality into perspective it has a KPH of 69, the second highest on the list after old favourite Cassia at 69.2.

SY Canyon. \ Patrick Browne

One variety to look out for to see does it make the cut into the future is LG Caravelle. It has a KPH of 69.8, but lodged badly in trials so may not make the cut.

Buccaneer is another variety to look out for. Goldcrop commented that this variety was delayed due to Brexit. It is a malting variety and claims to yield 5% higher than Craft, the current offering for winter malt.

SY Kestrel is also in trial. It claims BYDV resistance and the Department’s Séamus Kearney said it really has four levels of tolerance which give it the resistance tag.

Integral. \ Donal O' Leary

Kestrel had a KPH of 66.5 in Department trials. SY Quantock is another variety waiting in the wings reported to be good on diseases, with a small bit of net blotch.