Spring wheat recommended and candidate lists

Recommended List spring wheat trial very low yields reflect difficult season for spring crops

• Average yield of controls is 3.88 t/ha below the five-year average at 6.48 t/ha
• Very high protein content is boosted by low yield
• Specific weights and Hagbergs hold up

Harvest Results are now available from all five fungicide-treated RL spring wheat trials. There are no fungicide-untreated trials for spring wheat.

The average yield of control varieties is just 3.88 t/ha well below the five-year average of 6.48 t/ha, and well below the 2025 value of 5.15 t/ha, which was itself affected by drought (though one of the controls has changed since 2025). This reflects the poor conditions for spring cereals this year due to the hot dry weather through spring and summer. No trial reached 5 t/ha, with the lowest yielding trials in Suffolk, Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire all yielding below 4 t/ha.

Calculating yield results

Yields are represented as a percentage of the control varieties. In 2026, the control varieties are UKFM Group 1 variety KWS Ladum, UKFM Group 2 variety KWS Alicium and group 4 variety KWS Fixum. The average yield from these varieties is represented as 100%.

2026 results

With the small number of spring wheat trials some caution should be exercised when comparing between varieties. Having said that, the highest yielding varieties in 2026 are the newly recommended group 4 feed varieties WPB Clifden and Merkawa on 106% of controls.  Followed by the group 4 control variety KWS Fixum and group 4 variety Everlong, on 104%, The other group 4 varieties WPB Fraser and Ophelia (96%) have performed poorly in 2026 compared with their five-year averages.

In the UKFM Group 1 varieties highest yielding are STR Pace on 99% and KWS Harsum on 96%. KWS Ladum is next highest yielding on 94%, with Nissaba on 91% and Mulika on 90%, all showing exceptionally high protein, though Nissaba and Mulika show lower specific weight in 2026. Newly recommended white wheat Charland on 89% is in line with expectations on yield and has shown very good grain quality.

KWS Alicium is the highest yielding of the UKFM Group 2 varieties on 102% with KWS Bezique on 100%, and WPB Mylo on 95%.

Five-year average

The five-year average is a better measure of variety performance, especially for crops with smaller numbers of trials like spring wheat.

The results largely reflect the current RL, with group 4 variety Merkawa highest yielding on 106% of controls.  Group 4 varieties WPB Clifden and Everlong are next highest yielding on 104% of controls, with WPB Fraser and KWS Fixum on 102%, ahead of Ophelia on 100%.

UKFM Group 1 varieties STR Pace is on 99%, KWS Harsum on 98%, with KWS Ladum on 96%, Nissaba on 92% and Mulika on 91%. Newly recommended white wheat Charland is on 89%.

KWS Alicium and KWS Bezique are highest yielding of the UKFM Group 2 milling varieties on 102%, with WPB Mylo on 99%.

Candidates

There are two spring wheat candidates this year. The candidates are best judged on the five-year dataset and this will be used in November to assess their potential for adding to the recommended list, along with disease resistance, grain quality and agronomic characteristics.

Both varieties are feed quality. WPB Hayden at 106% of controls is equal to the highest yielding variety on the current RL and has done very well in 2026 on 108%. It has moderate disease resistance and good grain quality. KWS Bugle is slightly lower yielding, on 104% and has good grain quality.

Further information

Access full trial results via the AHDB website: ahdb.org.uk/harvestresults

AHDB Recommended Lists (RL) trials test variety performance under optimum conditions. Care should be taken when making comparisons with commercial yields. Results from individual trial sites should not be used to make conclusions on variety performance. The RL publications are based on information from trials across the UK over several seasons. As more information becomes available from the current harvest, this will contribute to the over-trials averages – which comprise four years for oilseeds and five years for cereals. These averages provide better information for comparison between varieties. Performance variation is not the responsibility of AHDB. Since the focus is to test new varieties, not all RL varieties are presented. Yields for well-established varieties are published at ahdb.org.uk/rl