LG Mountain has performed particularly well, at 107% of control, 6% above last season’s most popular variety KWS Orwell and 7% above the new recommended variety KWS Hawking.
LG Mountain has consistently produced these excellent yields across regions – even at some of the more challenging sites in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.
“The five-year average values (2016 to 2020) provides a better representation of performance across seasons and LG Mountain has consistently produced the highest yields at 104%,” says Ron Granger, arable technical manager for breeders Limagrain UK.
“This consistency of performance is a really important attribute in a variety, as growers know that whatever the season throws at them, it is able to cope.”
“Over this time, LG Mountain has also demonstrated its ability to produce high yields on both light and heavy soils, showing its flexibility within the rotation.”
“This excellent yield resilience can be attributed to the variety’s good agronomic characteristics of short straw, good disease resistance and great grain quality,” he adds.
Agronomically, LG Mountain is an earlier maturing variety at -1, and benefits from a good all round disease resistance profile, including BaYMV resistance. The variety has good grain quality attributes with a very good specific weight of 69.1, combined with good grain screening %, similar to KWS Glacier; an important feature in a 2-row winter barley.
Agronomy Approach
Agronomy work carried out by Limagrain looking at ‘seed rate vs PGR vs fungicide performance’, confirms that there is little difference in yield when LG Mountain is sown at seed rates of 300 seeds/m2 or 400 seeds/m2, yielding around 11.5 t/ha in each scenario.
LG Mountain is a shorter variety, and our trials data suggests that yield potential can be compromised if high rate PGR programmes are used, compared to the taller strawed varieties, says Ron.
“We still recommend that a good PGR programme is used to ensure straw strength and reduce brackling, and especially in a high yield situation such as on heavier, fertile soil types. The variety responds very well to both low and high input fungicide programmes, and again, programmes should be targeted regarding the situation in hand.”
“LG Mountain is certainly demonstrating itself to be a very reliable variety with regards to consistency of performance – a desirable attribute for any grower considering our recent seasonal, variable erratic weather patterns.”
David Waite, regional seed manager with Frontier…
David Waite, regional seed manager with Frontier, sees one the key attributes of LG Mountain being its consistent set of yield scores over the past 4 years through to this year’s harvest – maintaining the top yield for the AHDB North region, with one of the better specific weight scores.
“Along with these consistent yields, a strong (7) for standing with average straw length, provides growers with a sound agronomic package.”