Results are reported from 21 fungicide-treated sites of the 27 expected to report (four having been abandoned due to waterlogging), so with just five trials still to report we can get a good picture of variety performance in 2024. The average yield of control varieties has improved a little to 10.43 t/ha but is still well below the five-year average of 10.88 t/ha.

Just one more fungicide-untreated trial has reported, so the picture remains little changed since the last update. Average yield of the controls is just 6.18 t/ha 2.32 t/ha below the five-year average of 8.50 t/ha, with brown rust and septoria having taken their toll.

Calculating yield results

Yields are represented as a percentage of the control varieties. In 2024 they are Skyfall, KWS Extase, LG Astronomer, LG Skyscraper and Gleam. The yield average from these varieties is represented as 100%.

2024 results

The highest yielding varieties in the fungicide-treated trials continue to be those with good disease resistance, with the group 4 (hard) variety Champion still highest yielding on 110%, with the newly recommended UKFM Group 3 variety Bamford and soft group 4 variety LG Redwald on 109%. UKFM Group 2 variety KWS Palladium and hard group 4 variety SY Insitor are on 108%, with hard group 4s Graham and LG Typhoon (107%) and UKFM Group 2 KWS Extase (106%) just behind. All these varieties have exceeded their five-year average, some by several percent, reflecting the impact of disease even on the fungicide-treated trials this year.

Hard group 4 for the East/West Oxford and UKFM Group 2 KWS Ultimatum are on 105%, both ahead of their five-year averages. UKFM Group 2 Mayflower has slipped back a little on 104% but is still well ahead of its five-year average and sits alongside UKFM Group 1 KWS Zyatt, which is also having a very good 2024. Newly recommended hard group 4 LG Beowulf is also on 104%, but is 1% below its five-year average.

Popular hard group 4 variety KWS Dawsum has not performed so well in 2024 on 101%, despite its disease rating of 7 for brown rust, with RGT Bairstow also struggling on 98%. Similarly, Costello (93%), RGT Stokes (95%) and LG Skyscraper (97%) are well below their five-year averages in 2024.

Other newly recommended varieties are having mixed fortunes. Recommended for the North UKFM Group 3 variety Almara is on 99%, one percent above its five-year average, though most Scottish trials are still to report. UKFM provisional Group 1 SY Cheer on 95% is just 1% below its five-year average, with soft Group 4 variety Blackstone 2% below its five-year average on 100%. UKFM are undertaking further tests on this season’s crop for SY Cheer to confirm whether it will get confirmed Group 1 status.

In terms of quality, results from 2024 are good, with protein having held up, unlike in many commercial situations, with Hagberg falling number and specific weight higher than in 2023 for most varieties.

With just one more fungicide-untreated trial having reported the picture stays much the same. The highest yielding variety is UKFM Group 2 variety Mayflower at 129% of controls, well ahead of UKFM Group 2 variety KWS Extase on 123% and newly recommended UKFM Group 3 variety Bamford on 119%. Next highest yielding on 118% is UKFM Group 2 variety KWS Palladium followed by newly recommended for the north UKFM Group 3 variety Almara and UKFM Group 2 variety KWS Ultimatum on 116%.

Newly recommended varieties not mentioned so far are UKFM provisional Group 1 SY Cheer (103%) soft group 4 Blackstone (101%) and hard group 4 LG Beowulf (88%) with Blackstone and LG Beowulf still well below their five-year averages.

Five-year averages

The 2024 results show yields based on one season. The five-year average is a better measure of variety performance over seasons.

Group 4 hard variety Champion (107%) continues to lead on fungicide-treated yield, with newly recommended variety UKFM Group 3 Bamford and soft group 4 variety LG Redwald on 106%. Newly recommended hard group 4 variety LG Beowulf and SY Insitor reman on 105%, with hard group 4 varieties Oxford on 104% and KWS Dawsum, Gleam and Graham on 103%, just behind.

In the bread milling wheats, UKFM Group 2s KWS Extase and KWS Ultimatum are on 102% and KWS Palladium is on 101% with Mayflower (98%) completing the UKFM Group 2 varieties. Of the UKFM Group 1 varieties KWS Zyatt (100%) is well ahead of Skyfall (97%), with newly recommended SY Cheer on 96%. Of the UKFM Group 3 biscuit varieties, RGT Wilkinson (100%) is next highest yielding after Bamford (106%), with newly recommended for the north region Almara on 98% along with RGT Rashid, with LG Astronomer on 97%.

The other newly recommended variety, soft group 4 Blackstone is on 102%.

In the fungicide-untreated trials KWS Extase is highest yielding on 115%, followed closely by newly recommended Bamford and Mayflower on 114%, KWS Palladium and KWS Dawsum are on 112%. Of the other newly recommended varieties, SY Cheer is on 103%, north region Almara is on 108%, LG Beowulf is on 108% and Blackstone is on 106%.

2024 Candidates

The five-year averages are the best measure for assessing the candidates potential and suggest likely additions to this year’s RL. Though when they are considered for recommendation their overall balance of features including grain quality, agronomic characteristics and disease resistance will be considered in addition to yield. Data can only be shown for varieties that have completed national Variety Listing.

Potential Bread making varieties

The highest yielding potential bread making variety remains KWS Arnie (106%), with a 2024 yield of 108%. KWS Equipe and KWS Newbie (103%) and LG Shergar (102%) and Diamond (101%) and are a little way behind, but all have outyielded their five-year averages so far in 2024 and don’t seem to have any particular disease weaknesses, though Diamond does seem susceptible to lodging. KWS Beste (95%) is lower yielding. RGT Goldfinch is on 88% but its BYDV resistance will be of interest to some growers. (RL trials are treated in the autumn to kill aphids.) UKFM will decide on which of these varieties meets the specifications for bread making in time for them to be considered for adding the recommended list in December. But on the data from 2024 KWS Beste looks to be high protein, with Diamond and RGT Goldfinch similar to KWS Zyatt in this dataset. All have good Hagbergs, exceeding KWS Zyatt in this dataset and have good specific weights.

Diamond (120%) is still highest yielding in the fungicide-untreated trials with KWS Equipe on 117% and LG Shergar on 110% and RGT Goldfinch on 107% alongside KWS Newbie, with KWS Beste on 104%.

Potential Biscuit making varieties

KWS Solitaire (107%) and KWS Flute (106%) are still the standout varieties on yield. Other varieties in the group are also yielding well, with LG Henri on 104%, with Frenzy and Energy on 102%. Again, UKFM will decide on which of these varieties meets the specifications for Group 3. In the 2024 quality data proteins look acceptable for Group 3. The Hagberg falling number of LG Henri looks a little low, but all have good specific weights for Group 3.

In the fungicide-untreated trials LG Henri is on 114% and KWS Solitaire on 111% and Energy on 107%. KWS Flute looks weak on 100% and just 87% in 2024.

Potential Feed varieties

The hard feed varieties KWS Scope, KWS Mongoose and Riley (107%) lead the feed varieties on fungicide-treated yield. LG Rebellion, Roma and Memphis remain on 106% just behind these, with Rufus and SY Monza on 105%. There are just two soft group 4 candidates RGT Hexton on 105% and KWS Vicarage on 100%, which looks to be quite susceptible to septoria, which may explain its poor 2024 performance. In terms of grain quality, all have good Hagberg falling numbers, but specific weigh of SY Monza is a little low.

In the fungicide-untreated trials hard group 4 variety LG Rebellion is on still on 118% well ahead of Memphis on 108% and KWS Mongoose on 106%. Several of the group 4 feeds look weak on fungicide-untreated yield, with Rufus on 90%, (62% in 2024), SY Monza on 100% (80% in 2024), with soft group 4 RGT Hexton also on 100% and 87% in 2024.

With just a few trials still to report major changes in variety rankings are unlikely now, though until the full dataset is in these results should still be considered provisional.

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

Winter wheat (early sown)

Early sown winter wheat RL trials deliver lower yields in 2024

Recommended Lists (RL) Harvest Results for the early sown winter wheat trials (sowing date 25 August–25 September) have been published. One trial remains the be validated.

This sub-set of first wheat trials includes only varieties that breeders consider suitable for early drilling, plus controls. They are grown to the standard RL fungicide and PGR programme.

As early sowing has declined in Southern and Eastern England, largely in response to black-grass pressures, most trials have been moved northwards, where early sowing is still common in commercial practice. This does mean that the results are slightly later to come in. One trial has been retained in Cambridgeshire.

The average yield of the controls in 2024 is 10.29 t/ha, well below the five-year average of 11.28 t/ha. This is likely to be due to disease in the trials, with both the Northumberland and Yorkshire and the Scottish trial in Fife having septoria, despite the robust RL fungicide program.

Calculating yield results

Yields are represented as a percentage of the control varieties. The yield controls for the early sown series are the same as for the main trial series. The varieties for 2024 are Skyfall, KWS Extase, LG Skyscraper, LG Astronomer and Gleam. The yield average from these varieties is represented as 100%.

2024 results

The highest yielding variety in the 2024 series is the hard Group 4 feed variety Champion (117%), just ahead of newly recommended UKFM Group 3 variety Bamford on 116%. Next highest yielding is hard group 4 Graham and UKFM Group 2 Mayflower on 109%, with hard group 4s LG Typhoon and newly recommended LG Beowulf on 108%. All these varieties have good septoria resistance, a useful trait for early sowing, especially this year. UKFM Group 2 KWS Extase and soft group 4 KWS Zealum are just behind these on 107%. All have outperformed their 5-year averages.

Lower down we find the varieties with lower septoria ratings, hard group 4 Gleam (100%), soft group 4s LG Skyscraper and RGT Bairstow, UKFM Group 1 Skyfall (98%) and UKFM Group 3 LG Astronomer (97%). All except Skyfall have underperformed their 5-year averages. Newly recommended group 4 soft variety Blackstone (100%) has not performed well in 2024 in these trials, despite a good septoria rating.

Five-year average

The five-year average is a better measure of variety performance over seasons, particularly given the small number of trials in this early sown series. Champion is again highest yielding (108%), with newly recommended UKFM Group 3 variety Bamford on 107%. There are then a group of varieties on 105%, newly recommended hard group 4 LG Beowulf, KWS Zealum, Oxford and KWS Dawsum. Graham, LG Typhoon, KWS Ultimatum and Gleam are on 103%. Newly recommended group 4 soft variety Blackstone in on 101%.

2024 Candidates

Judging the potential of the candidate varieties for early sown yield is tricky as it is a small dataset. Therefore results should be treated with caution. Again only those candidate varieties that the breeders judge to be suitable for early sowing are included in these trials.

Highest yielding in the five-year dataset are the potential UKFM Group 3 varieties KWS Flute and KWS Solitaire and the hard group 4 variety KWS Mongoose, all on 111%. Just behind these on 110% are soft group 4 variety RGT Hexton and the hard group 4 varieties Memphis and KWS Scope. All yielding higher than any of the current RL varieties in this early sown slot. Hard group 4 variety LG Rebellion and potential UKFM Group 3 variety LG Henri are on 107%.

There are several bread making candidates this year but only LG Shergar has been entered into these early sown trials and it has a yield of 101% in the five-year dataset.