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August 7th 2009
‘RETRIEVER’ WINTER BARLEY DELIVERS EXCEPTIONAL YIELD PERFORMANCE IN NATIONAL VARIETY TRIALS
In a season where most established and Recommended List candidate winter barley varieties have delivered average results compared with their five-year mean figures, Nickerson’s two-row feed variety Retriever has produced a series of exceptional performances in independent trials conducted by the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) and The Arable Group (TAG).
In HGCA Recommended List Trials at 11 sites in England Retriever’s 2009 mean treated yield*, 111 per cent of controls, was the highest of the 18 varieties which were evaluated. Its outstanding performance and yield advantage was also confirmed in trials by The Arable Group at five sites throughout England and Scotland, where Retriever was either the top yielding winter barley or the highest-yielding two-row variety, recording an average six per cent yield advantage over Cassia and 10 per cent over Saffron.
Lee Robinson, Nickerson’s Arable Marketing Director, states: “Retriever is enjoying an outstanding year and the results of these independent trials demonstrate its clear and often considerable yield advantage over competitor varieties, which translates into a higher gross margin and greater profitability for growers. Retriever has exceptional yield potential, similar to that of many 6-rows, good all-round disease resistance, sound agronomic characters and is resistant to Barley Mosaic virus, making it a very good choice across a wide range of conditions.”
Nickerson’s barley breeding team, led by Mark Glew, has an excellent track record of producing successful varieties for many different markets. Although the company’s barley breeding programme is based in the UK, it has a very European flavour, being designed to develop and select varieties for key European countries, including the UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and Spain.
To enable growers to get the best out of its varieties, Nickerson publishes free Technical and Marketing Guides which provide an overview of each one, including details of pedigree, yield potential, regional and rotational performance, together with agronomic characteristics, disease resistance, grain quality and market potential.
