Arable


New biscuit wheat has much Merit


F


ive new biscuit wheats mean there are eight Group 3 varie- ties to consider on the 2021/22


Recommended List – marking a resur- gence in their popularity.


Sitting in the middle of the group for yield is Merit. Bred by Elsoms, it scores 8 for yellow rust and 6.6 for sep- toria tritici. With a specifi c weight of 76.5 kg/hl and a Hagberg Falling Num- ber of 255 seconds, protein is respect- able at 11.7%. With a special recommendation for


the east, Merit has a yield of 103% of controls for the region. And a strong un- treated yield of 80% of controls marks it out as one of the standout varieties for the area.


Lincolnshire farm manager Brian Hammond grew a seed crop of Mer- it at Westmoreland Farms, Hecking- ton. Drilled into a good seed bed at 170


season,” says Mr Hammond. The crop had 220kg of nitrogen with the last split at the end of April. Mr Hamond says he was particularly im- pressed with its stiff straw. After 52mm of rain over a single weekend in June, it was still standing strong.


Reassuring “It’s been a robust variety and never looked like it needed more fungicide than other wheat crops on the farm. In a season where yellow rust has been the disease to watch for, Merit stayed clean until through to T1 which was reassuring.”


kg/ha in mid-September, it received a standard fungicide programme of T1, T2 and T3. “It has stayed impressively clean, despite the yellow rust pressure of the


Merit stayed impressively clean, says


Brian Hammond


Although promoted as being suit- ed to a late drilling slot, Mr Ham- mond was reasonably early by mod- ern practices. Despite scoring 3 for mildew, there was no disease to note and it looked sound heading into the winter, he adds. “Given how well it looks and based on our fi eld history, I’m opti- mistic it will yield between 10 and 11 t/ha. If it fulfi ls this expectation and given


its broad market


appeal,


including suitability for export, then I would have to give it serious consideration.”


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