Finding a variety that met Agrovista's objectives of identifying a high-quality, Group 1 wheat with the ability to be planted late into the drilling season while exhibiting large amounts of vigour, led the company to import and trial various wheat breeding lines from Germany.

Many UK growers drill wheat late into the drilling window to try and control black-grass prior to germination. However, Agrovista discovered that German growers were experiencing similar issues, and the company decided to trial various German breeding lines in a UK climate to see if they could find a suitable late-driller wheat.

Arable seed manager and agronomist at Agrovista, Ted Williams, says: "We were starting to see some of the issues that came with delayed drilling, winter wheat varieties were struggling to make it through the winter, weren't yielding well and still had black-grass.

"When drilling was delayed, there was also a good chance that [the crop] didn't get in, which is deeply frustrating as that seed is not cheap, and it's sat there tying up cash flow. The wheat seed is also a living organism, so there's a good chance that the germination will drop off.

"We started looking for alternatives and came upon interesting breeding when looking for alternatives for late and for spring drilling," says Mr Williams.

German lines

The company scanned breeding lines in Germany as they conducted trials focusing on the same issues, and they came across an interesting ‘novel' concept: winter wheat crossed with spring wheat.

"We started looking at those varieties and bringing them through to the UK over the years, putting them through trials to see how they reacted to the UK – we started to have a few issues, particularly with the different yellow rust isolates [in Germany]."

The company then began searching for even earlier varieties and, over the last few years, has refined and trialled different varieties. "We started to see some exciting varieties that were coming through, and they were hitting all the objectives that we wanted.

"We have called this new concept of ‘Sprinter' wheat, which means you have got a spring/winter drilling connection to Sprinter, but it also has a secondary aim of the name as the wheat is a ‘Sprinter' as it is quick out of the blocks."

The concept of Sprinter wheat has been introduced to the AHDB Recommended List this year in the form of STR Pace, the highest-yielding Group 1 variety.

As it is a spring/winter cross, it allows growers to drill wheat throughout the entire season. "This variety could be drilled from the middle of October, for those late drilling spots, all the way through up until May, or until you stop drilling your spring wheat," he adds.

Beyond that, Mr Williams says the company also looked for opportunities to try and offer growers more margin. "Some of the issues of late drilling wheat are that you can end up with low bushel weights, and often, the later you drill something, the lower the yield is. So, we saw this as an opportunity to try and get a quality product to come through, so I'm excited that after all these years, we've now managed to get one of those varieties."

Opportunity

STR Pace is the first variety within this concept and will be offered to growers this coming autumn.

Mr Williams says: "We had to put SDR Pace through on the spring [RL] because this variety is so vigorous; if you drilled it in September, by the time it got to October, it would get far too far ahead of itself.

"We know this variety does well. It has a good quality, as it is a Group One, and it has a huge specific weight [81.2], which is the highest specific weight among any of the spring wheats.

"But it's got this extra novel concept whereby you can drill it in the winter as well. You'll have an opportunity once you've completed your traditional winter wheat drilling period and you're nearing your mid-October drillings.

"Suppose you're taking off some late crops, like fodder beet. In that case, you've got an opportunity to pick up a variety like STR Pace, and when you have finished lifting your late crops and the weather is conducive to drilling, you can get it drilled late, as it is so vigorous it will get out of the box fast and will establish well.

"If you can't find a weather window in the winter, you can wait until the spring and take the opportunity in the spring."