EFRC Cereal Variety and Mixture Trials 2001 – Preliminary Results

Summary

Of 7 winter wheats grown at 3 sites in southern England in 2001, the highest yielding was the soft wheat Claire; the breadmaking varieties Hereward, Shamrock and Spark did well. Of the feed wheats, Aardvark outyielded Deben. Of various variety mixtures tried, Aardvark/Claire/Deben was highest yielding. When seed was saved from the 2000 harvest of Hereward/Malacca/Shamrock and grown in 2001, it outyielded the first generation mixture, suggesting that some adaptation had occurred, relative composition changing in response to the local conditions.
Winter oats and triticale were trialled at one site in Berkshire. The triticales Ego and Fidelio performed well, as did the winter oat Kingfisher. The oat mixture Ego/Fidelio/Taurus outyielded the mean of its component varieties. The triticale mixture Ego/Fidelio/Taurus showed adaptation from 2000 to 2001.