With the area of spring barley expected to soar, two new varieties from breeder Syngenta targeted at the malting market – Sanette and Glassel – have been added to the new HGCA Recommended List for 2013.
According to Syngenta barley specialist Charlie Siggs Sanette has achieved the highest UK treated yield figure of all the malting or feed varieties on the new list.
“With a UK treated yield of 109 per cent, the key point about Sanette is that it follows hot on the heels of popular varieties such as Propino, Quench and NFC Tipple because we are developing it as a pan-European variety,” Mr Siggs said.
“This is significant because a notable success for UK growers over recent years has been export opportunities for certain brewing barleys. World beer consumption has risen and the UK has been developing a reputation for producing quality malting barley. So growing varieties that appeal to the UK end market but also to mainland Europe has been an important option.
“Sanette is being targeted at UK brewing, but it also has good lager characteristics for Europe.
“It’s very high yield figure could make it attractive to grow spring barley for brewing,” Mr Siggs added. “Agronomically, Sanette also has high resistance to brackling, as well as good Rhynchosporium resistance and very high mildew resistance.”
With the distilling sector also growing, Syngenta is targeting this market with the new variety Glassel that has also been added to the new HGCA Recommended List of spring barley.
“With a UK treated yield of 103 per cent on the 2013 HGCA Recommended List, Glassel has delivered highly consistent yields during the last three years,” Mr Siggs said. “It could provide a new option in the malt distilling sector.
“It also has a high rating for resistance to brackling on the HGCA Recommended List, plus good resistance to mildew.”
In the winter barley sector, two new Syngenta malting varieties – Mezmaar and Soloman – have been added to the new HGCA Recommended List for 2013/14.
“Both of these follow quickly behind the winter malting variety SY Venture that was newly added to the HGCA Recommended List last season,” Mr Siggs said. “They both offer a similar UK treated yield to SY Venture, and both have produced particularly good yields in the East region.
“Usefully, both varieties are resistant to Barley Yellow Mosaic Virus and also have good hot water extracts.”
For more information visit: www.syngenta.co.uk.
