This picture, which was taken by Marc Lanham – Nickerson seed specialist, on the 14th July, clearly shows the differences between treated and untreated varieties and how resistance ratings have been tested this season. LG Sundance stands out visually with its healthy, green leaf across both the treated and untreated sections of the trial.
The trials, which are located at the farm of I.M Hodgson, Hall Farm, Halsham in East Yorks, were drilled on the 29th Sept, at a seed rate of 240 seeds/m². On one side of the track a 4m untreated strip was left running horizontally to the tramlines. The treated plots received a full fungicide programme.
“It’s clear to see how LG Sundance stands out from all of the other varieties in terms of its green leaf retention in both the treated and untreated trials; this illustrates how robust its disease resistance ratings are, having held up in what has been a very challenging season disease-wise, for many varieties,” says Ron Granger, arable technical manager with Limagrain.
LG Sundance has an excellent disease resistance profile, with a very good ‘7’ rating for the yield robbing disease Septoria tritici, a rating of ‘8’ for yellow rust, ‘6’ for brown rust and ‘7’ for mildew. The variety is also resistant to OWBM, adding security for on farm production in today’s volatile conditions.
“What’s very exciting about this variety is that when you compare the treated and untreated yields in the candidate data on the AHDB RL, it’s possible to see clearly how the disease resistance ratings are supporting the yield; LG Sundance offers a high treated yield of 105% of control, which is up at levels of the hard feed wheats, however its untreated yield is 91%, so only a 14% difference which is remarkable.”
“When compared to the slightly lower yielding control variety JB Diego at 102%, the difference between treated and untreated is 18% and for KWS Santiago this difference is 30%!”
“It is going to be very interesting to see how untreated yields of both the RL varieties and Candidates perform this harvest, as varieties have had to withstand very challenging disease pressure; this will certainly have an effect on the difference between treated and untreated yield potential.”
With marketing potential for both export and distilling, Limagrain data suggests that LG Sundance is a higher tillering variety with a slower prostrate growth habit in the spring -attributes considered of importance for the earlier drilling slot; an area in which the variety is currently undergoing evaluation. Limited data also suggests the variety is suitable for the second wheat slot.
LG Sundance is a Candidate variety up for recommendation to the AHDB Recommended List this coming autumn.