Recommended Lists (RL) winter wheat on trial

Follow the team behind the Recommended Lists (RL) on a journey to harvest 2025. Discover how we grow one of the UK’s most complex winter wheat crops, from deciding which varieties to sow to recommendation decisions.

In the most recent RL review (2022–2023), levy payers asked us to provide more information about the variety trials, including how they operate and how we make recommendation decisions.

For the 2024–25 growing season, we will bring the RL protocols to life from one of our winter wheat trial sites in Norfolk.

Follow the journey to discover how we:

• Select varieties for sowing
• Identify and prepare sites
• Design the trial
• Approach trial agronomy
• Assess and harvest trials
• Decide which varieties to recommend

Location: Terrington St Clement, Norfolk

Trial type: Winter wheat fungicide treated yield trial (the site also features a fungicide untreated trial)

Unique varieties: 35 recommended, 15 candidates

Number of plots: 150 

Previous crop: Potatoes

Soil type: Silty

Tillage: Sub-soiling (4 October 2024) followed by tine cultivation operations, then power-harrowed (7 October 2024)

Sowing date: 7 October 2024 (pre-emergence herbicide applied within a few days)

• This site is one of 31 winter wheat fungicide treated yield trials sown for harvest 2025
• About half of these are in the RL East region (reflecting the relative importance of this part of the UK)
• The UK map of RL cereal regions shows the distribution of all winter wheat trial sites for harvest 2023
• Harvest 2025 has a similar distribution

RL trials are designed to help manage the influence of in-field variation.

Reps (replicates)

Each variety is grown three times at the site (these are called replicates or ‘reps’).

Each rep features the full variety set, with variety plot positions randomly allocated.

Plot dimensions

• Minimum drilled width = 1.1 m
• Minimum total width* = 1.65 m
• Minimum plot length = 9.0 m

*Includes gaps between plots.

Blocks

Plots are also allocated to a numbered block (which also helps us account for variation across the site).

Guard plots

Some plots are grown to protect variety plots from edge effects (data from such plots is discarded and not used).

The AHDB RL team will bring you expert insights about our trials this season, via a vlog on YouTube. Check out the highlights and access the vlog playlist below.

October

For October-sown winter wheat trials, we set a target final spring plant population of 250 plants/m² or 175 plants/m². The latter rate is for hybrid varieties, which is 70% of the rate for non-hybrid varieties. Typically, we expect that 90% of the seeds will establish.

November

Five weeks after the trial was drilled, crop emergence and early development were encouraging. There were notable differences in growth across the variety plots (ranging from growth stages 12 to 22). There were numerous fast-developing plots, which can be compared with the fast-growing KWS Extase. These included several UKFM group 2s and candidate varieties.

The plots were holding their lines well. Sometimes, the outside lines of plants in each plot can sink into the plot gaps, especially when wet. Although a risk on this site’s silty soils, the edges were holding up well.

As expected, weed levels were low (we select fields with relatively low weed pressures), with virtually no grass weeds in the plots. The herbicides applied were getting to work on the few broadleaf weeds present.

There were no disease symptoms in the plots. However, some early sown trials towards the North have yellow rust in some plots.

The RL project is managed by a consortium of AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds, BSPB, MAGB and UKFM. Funding for the trials and tests is provided by AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds but the production of the RL would be impossible without the contribution and support of the industry.