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The new Recommended Lists (RL) is packed full of options for multiple markets
Monday, 1 December 2025
We have launched (1 December 2025) the online edition of the Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) 2026/27.
The latest edition of the variety guidance for farmers and agronomists includes a diverse set of cereal and oilseed varieties, with new options for mainstream and relatively niche markets.
With fewer varieties added than removed, the lists are more focused and include numerous varieties with big yield improvements.
For the third consecutive year, a new provisional UKFM Group 1 variety has been added to the winter wheat recommended list. This list also features a strong new distilling soft group 4 feed variety and several new hard group 4 varieties. Although some of these group 4s are very high yielding, some come with agronomic compromises.
During the harvest 2025 trials, a major wheat yellow rust resistance gene was overcome, so we issued revised disease ratings for the established RL winter wheat varieties earlier this year.
Although some varieties have seen significant falls in ratings, many still feature good levels of resistance against this disease (disease ratings 7 to 9), which includes several new varieties.
The new winter barley list sees just three new varieties added, with more than a quarter of varieties on the list now featuring breeders’ claims for resistance or tolerance to Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV).
RL 2026/27 also features several new dual-use spring barley recommendations with potential to break into the competitive malting market.
The winter oilseed rape list sees new recommendations in all categories. The majority have a UK recommendation, with some significant steps forward in yield and disease resistance.
Paul Gosling, who manages the RL at AHDB, said:
“It’s been a relatively quiet year for new varieties and several of the new lists are shorter. The new release includes some niche varieties. Although these won’t appeal to everyone, they will fit some situations.
“The winter wheat recommendations were particularly tricky this year, after the shake-up to yellow rust resistance. We have recommended some new hard group 4s that are susceptible to yellow rust. Many varieties in this group are now susceptible to the disease. However, the recommendations are justified, due to the yield advantage of the new varieties over the current ones.”
The RL 2026/27 booklet edition will be available in January, followed by updates to the RL digital tools, starting with the RL app.
Access the RL 2026/27 online tables and comments on new varieties
Crop-specific variety highlights
The winter wheat list has eight new varieties, which cover key milling sectors and provide strong steps forward in feed yields.
After stagnating for many years, UKFM Group 1 has been transformed over the last three years. New addition Arlington from DSV brings the number of new varieties in this group to three in three years.
Arlington has been listed as a provisional Group 1 by UKFM. Its status will be confirmed in the spring after UKFM completes analysis of commercial quantities of harvest 2025 grain. In small-scale testing, over the last three years, the variety has shown good grain and baking quality, with good protein levels recorded. Arlington is the highest-yielding Group 1 variety in the key East region and it has the second highest fungicide-untreated yield, which is bound to attract interest.
UKFM Group 2 has just one new addition. KWS Grebe has yields just below the best Group 2s, but its chief attraction is likely to be its resistance to orange wheat blossom midge.
After a couple of quiet years, there are several new feed varieties.
Sparkler from Elsoms is a soft feed variety, which has the top fungicide-treated yield for soft varieties and is rated high quality for distilling. It also has good yellow rust and septoria resistance.
Five hard group 4 varieties have been recommended and some may prove controversial.
KWS Aintree offers a 4% yield increase over KWS Scope and Champion (which were already on the list). This is a huge increase for a new winter wheat variety. However, with a yellow rust disease rating of 3, it is not going to be for everyone. Where grown, it will need careful management to realise its yield potential.
KWS Fowlmere has better yellow rust resistance and, as a result, a better fungicide-untreated yield than KWS Aintree, but it is 3% lower yielding in fungicide-treated trials. Its key trait is its earliness. Given a -2 for ripening, it is the earliest variety on the list by some margin. This will attract interest.
Two further additions to the hard group 4s come from Limagrain. LG Defiance is just 1% lower yielding than KWS Aintree, but it has good yellow rust resistance and the highest fungicide-untreated yield on the new list. Its weakness is its straw strength, which will need careful management. LG Challenger is 2% lower-yielding than LG Defiance, in both fungicide-treated and untreated trials, but its resistance to lodging is good and it has no other weaknesses.
The final addition to the hard group 4s is RGT Guardsman. With a fungicide-treated yield of 103%, it is the first of the BYDV resistant varieties to be competitive on yield and it will be interesting to see its uptake.
The spring wheat list has three new varieties. There are two group 4s, Merkawa from Senova and WPB Clifden from Limagrain, and a new Group 1, Charland from Blackman Agriculture.
Charland is a white wheat, which produces very white flour. It will have several specialist end-uses and, unlike previous white-wheat varieties recommended, it has been given a Group 1 classification by UKFM, because of its very good milling and baking qualities. Of the new spring wheats, it is the one most likely to stimulate the greatest interest.
After last year’s influx of new varieties to the winter barley list, RL 2026/27 sees just three new varieties, with the overall list getting shorter.
Darcie from Senova is a two-row feed variety that has been recommended for the East and West regions. It is slightly lower yielding but comes with resistance to Barley yellow mosaic virus strain 2 (BaYMV2), one of only three such varieties on the list. The extent of BaYMV incidence is uncertain, but varietal resistance is the only option where the disease is problematic. Darcie offers a higher-yielding alternative to the other BaYMV2 resistant varieties on the list.
One new six-row hybrid has been added. SY Barnabus is the highest-yielding, six-row hybrid, in both fungicide-treated and untreated trials. Although its grain quality is good, it is slightly weaker strawed than some of the six-row hybrids.
LG Catapult is a new two-row feed variety with BYDV tolerance and a high fungicide-treated yield, which closes the gap with the non-BYDV-tolerant two-row feeds. It also has a good fungicide-untreated yield. However, its resistance to lodging is weaker than some of the other BYDV-tolerant varieties.
The spring barley list has four new varieties, with three under evaluation for both brewing and malt distilling by the Malting Barley Committee (MBC).
Trailblazer from Syngenta offers high treated yields across all regions, with good standing power and grain quality. Roulette from Agrii has a slightly lower fungicide-treated yield but has the highest fungicide-untreated yield on the new list. Shona, from Elsoms Ackermann Barley, has been recommended for the East, where it shows a very high fungicide-treated yield.
Nolan from Senova is the final addition. It was proposed for recommendation in 2024 but was not added to the list due to problems during the GB and NI Variety Lists (VL) assessment stages. With the issues resolved and good malting qualities, it has been recommended for the UK. Its status in the MAGB testing system is being reviewed shortly by the MBC. It may move quickly to provisional approval for malting, because it has had an extra year under test. We may only have to wait a few days to see.
The spring malting barley market is tough to break into. These varieties may still fail to achieve full MBC approval. Growers should ensure they have a market before committing to such varieties.
One new winter oat variety has been added. Rannoch from Senova has very high yields and, with grain quality similar to Mascani, it may tempt some growers and end users.
Two spring oat varieties, Jacky and Neptun, both from Saaten Union, have also been added to this list. Jacky is the higher-yielding variety, but Neptun has better grain quality.
New winter oilseed rape recommendations have been made across the categories, giving new options for different situations.
Three new hybrids are recommended for the UK.
Dompteur from DSV is the highest-yielding variety on the new list, in both the East/West and North regions. It also has resistance ratings of 8 for both light leaf spot and phoma stem canker, as well as having pod shatter and TuYV resistance.
Karat from NPZU matches Dompteur for yield in the East/West region and has disease resistance ratings of 8 for both light leaf spot and phoma stem canker. It is moderately resistant to verticillium but is lower yielding in the North region.
KWS Domingos is slightly lower yielding in both regions and has resistance ratings of 7 for light leaf spot and 8 for phoma stem canker.
Bachus, from Jennaway Consulting, is a new conventional variety with a UK recommendation. It has the highest yields in both RL regions for conventional varieties. It has a similar disease resistance package to existing conventional varieties.
LG Clavin CL is a new herbicide tolerant variety that has been recommended for the UK. It is the highest-yielding variety in both regions and has good light leaf spot resistance for this group, but it is susceptible to verticillium (based on limited data).
Crios is a new variety for the North, with a specific recommendation for resistance to the common strains of clubroot. It is not the highest-yielding clubroot-resistant variety in this region, but it has the highest light leaf spot resistance of any variety of this type.
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