Varieties and genetics research for cereals and oilseeds

Our Recommended Lists (RL) trials provide information on the performance cereals and oilseeds varieties. We also support pre-breeding research to help deliver novel and improved traits to the varieties of the future.

Because plant breeding takes many years, a sustained investment in research and trials is required. Through strategic collaboration, the industry can ensure that varieties of cereals and oilseeds continue to meet farmers’ agronomic needs and the requirements of a diverse grain market.

AHDB research focuses on:

• Ensuring a successful route to market for new cereal and oilseed varieties with appropriate agronomic and quality characteristics (e.g. via the RL)
• Maintaining crop profitability (e.g. maintaining or enhancing yield and quality)
• Improving environmental sustainability (e.g. supporting the adoption of IPM)
• Monitoring and investigating changes to varietal performance (e.g. caused by pathogen population change)
• Delivering variety data in easy-to-use formats (e.g. via online tools)
• Adding value to RL data (e.g. information on variety blends)

The basis of the RL first edition (1944) was a narrative description (by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany) of 16 wheat varieties. Since that time, the variety trialling project has evolved. Now managed by AHDB, it involves more than 400 trials – spread from Cornwall to Aberdeenshire – delivering vast amounts of data for 11 crops each year.

UKCPVS continually monitors cereal pathogens in UK varieties. When a change in virulence (ability to cause disease) is detected, the project determines the significance for resistance in RL varieties, in addition to varieties in trials and breeding programmes.

A four-year project is running trials to compare the performance of varieties grown as blends (multiple varieties) against varieties in single stands. The researchers are using the AHDB variety blend tool, experience and conversations with millers to select hard wheat milling varieties (UKFM Groups 1 and 2) with suitable characteristics for drilling in the trials (in autumn 2025, 2026 and 2027). Blends increase the genetic diversity in fields and this can reduce the severity of several diseases and increase yield and yield stability (across years and environments).

The latest RL review identified an appetite for crop physiology information to assist with variety selection under lower inputs, including variety competitiveness against grass weeds. There is already good evidence that crop selection influences weed control (e.g. barley is more competitive against black-grass than wheat). However, the use of competitive varieties is poorly understood.

In 2017, the Organic Research Centre developed a network to evaluate field-scale winter wheat variety trials on commercial farms, which identified the main traits associated with weed competitiveness. In 2025, AHDB funded an extension of the network to focus on low-input systems. The project will develop recommendations for measurable crop physiology traits associated with weed competition and ultimately give farmers better information on the weed competitiveness of varieties.

Fusarium langsethiae is the main fusarium species that infects oats. It causes fusarium head blight and produces HT-2 and T-2 mycotoxins. UK dietary exposure to these toxins from oat products is very low. However, strict legal limits on these mycotoxins in the EU Member States and Northern Ireland mean it is important to understand risk to prepare for potential new legislation in GB.

Continuous investment in this area by AHDB for many years has demonstrated that combined HT-2 and T-2 concentrations are typically higher (with greater variability) in winter oats than in spring oats. The latest phase of the research (until 2027) is quantifying the HT-2 and T-2 content in all RL oat varieties for six harvest years. The results will ultimately guide variety choice, as part of an integrated strategy to manage mycotoxin risks.

To simulate wheat yields under various situations, including climate change scenarios, this studentship project is developing a model (Sim Farm 2030). It is applying cutting-edge, machine-learning, data-driven techniques to model the yield of wheat cultivars, as a function of meteorological (e.g. temperature and precipitation) and environmental (e.g. pollution and soil) variables. The final model will guide decision making (e.g. in crop breeding) and potentially reduce the requirement for costly variety trials.

Despite clear benefits of varietal resistance/tolerance to pests, no varieties are available for the control of any pest in oilseed rape. However, studies have identified potentially useful genetic variations in CSFB adult feeding damage in laboratory-based ‘choice experiments’ and in the field. Furthermore, a laboratory screen for resistance against CSFB larvae found substantial differences in the frequency of adult emergence between the 40 lines tested, with some lines producing few or no viable adults.  As these results show the potential to breed varieties with greater resilience to CSFB, this project will:

• Assist the identification and sharing of CSFB-resistant/tolerant germplasm (between breeders/researchers)
• Develop protocols and genetic markers for resistance/tolerance traits
• Facilitate the movement of key traits into market-ready varieties

A cross between two varieties increases the yield of the resultant offspring (hybrid vigour). Because of the need to ensure effective pollination and avoid self-fertilisation, the process is challenging. This project aims to develop systems to control and improve fertility in cereal crops.

The study has identified key genes in barley and wheat that are critical for pollen development. The researchers will characterise fertility traits in various genetic pools to confirm their consistency. CRISPR gene editing is also being used – on a representative gene (HvTF1) – to see if the technique can produce plants similar to those modified via conventional methods.

Typically, the main RL project runs in five-year phases, with a large-scale public review conducted during each project phase. The need for evidence of varietal responses under lower-input scenarios was identified as part of the RL 2022–2023 review, with two scoping reviews commissioned as part of follow-up activities.

Funded by Defra, the Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) generate pre-breeding material that carries novel, profitable and sustainable traits for many major crops.

Information on all crop genetics research projects is available in our research archive:

• In the ‘Sector’ drop-down box, select ‘Cereals & Oilseeds’
• In the ‘Topic’ drop-down box, select ‘Varieties, breeding and genetics’

Note: A report is submitted at the end of each project. After review (which can take several weeks), the final project report is published on the corresponding project page. At this stage, the project is official complete.