The first yield data for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) Recommended Lists winter wheat trials are now available from the AHDB Harvest Results page.

Results include seven sites - East Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Scottish Borders and Suffolk.

The average yield of control varieties in these trials stands at 11.43t/ha; just ahead of the five-year average of 11.38t/ha.

2018 results

Yields are represented as a percentage of the control varieties. In 2018, JB Diego, KWS Santiago, Skyfall, KWS Siskin and Zulu are the control varieties. The yield average from these varieties is represented as 100%.

In the results so far for 2018, Group 4 hard feed varieties lead the way with KWS Crispin and KWS Kerrin at 105% and Gleam with a yield of 104%.

The highest yielding soft Group 4 feeds are Bennington, KWS Jackal and LG Sundance with yields of 103%.

Yield isn’t everything with quality wheats; however, the top-yielding nabim Group 1 bread variety is KWS Zyatt (100%). KWS Siskin is the highest yielding nabim Group 2 bread wheat (103%) and KWS Barrel leads the nabim Group 3 biscuit yields (102%).

Using the five-year average

The five-year averages give a much better guide to performance and to make conclusions on variety performance as the 2018 data only shows yields based on one season.

Current good performers, based on five-year average yields include the hard feed variety RGT Gravity (105%); the soft Group 4 variety KWS Jackal, which was recommended for the north at (103%); KWS Barrel (102%) in Group 3; KWS Siskin (102%) in Group 2; and KWS Zyatt (101%) in Group 1.

2018 Candidates

Looking at the five-year averages, the soft feed candidates are performing well on yield are: LG Skyscraper (106%); LG Spotlight (104%); LG Sabertooth (104%); LG Interstellar (104%); and SY Loki (103%).

The hard feed candidate LG Jigsaw (103%); and the potential biscuit-making variety, KWS Firefly (102%); are also performing well.