New Milling Wheat Leader Joins HGCA Recommended List
30/11/06

Seizing the UK’s milling wheat yield crown on the 2007/8 HGCA Recommended List published this week (Thursday November 30) is new variety, Battalion. What is more, it brings the added benefits of clearly superior nitrogen efficiency, disease resistance and tolerance, and second wheat performance.

“Battalion is rated as a desirable Group 2 variety by UK millers, and has better water absorption properties than Einstein plus valuable export potential,” explains wheat breeder, Ed Flatman of RAGT Seeds.

“Combining market-leading yields with Solstice-level protein contents, Battalion delivers the best nitrogen efficiency of any currently listed variety, giving it a vital extra edge.”

This edge is sharpened by a yield advantage over previous Group 2 leader, Einstein extending to fully 5% without fungicide treatment, where the new variety performs on a par with current low input yield leader, Alchemy; a performance resulting from its excellent all-round disease package – most notably, resistance ratings of 9 for brown rust, 7 for mildew and yellow rust, marked Septoria tritici tolerance
and Pch1 eyespot resistance.

“Unsurprisingly for one of our robust wheats with the added value of the Pch1 gene, Battalion is proving to be an excellent second wheat,” Ed Flatman adds. “Indeed, it outperforms all other listed varieties in this rotational slot, including current second wheat favourites and other varieties with Pch1 eyespot resistance.

“Performing highly consistently in official trials over the past three very different seasons and on both heavy and light soils, it has stiff straw with good resistance to lodging both with and without PGR.

“A combination of superior yield and quality with greater agronomic robustness for added reliability seems certain to give Battalion particular appeal to growers seeking yield with the possibility of a valuable extra premium.”

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