United Kingdom
November 29, 2021
RGT Pixxon, the newest variety to come from RAGT’s forage maize pipeline, has had a strong year, performing well in merchant trials this season, says David Ramdhian, head of forage crops at RAGT Seeds.
“From the feedback I’ve received and my own observations, RGT Pixxon has looked very good in the field.
“It has displayed excellent consistency across different sites and soils, which has become the hallmark of RAGT’s maize varieties including favourites such as Agiraxx, RGT Duxxbury and RGT Oxxgood.”
David believes RGT Pixxon’s earliness, high dry matter yields and good standing power will add to the attraction.
“RGT Pixxon should make a great choice for favourable and less favourable areas alike. It is early maturing and has similar dry matter content to Ambition, one of the biggest sellers in the early sector, but has a higher overall yield.”
Although it is too early for this season’s trial results, David fully expects they will match the variety’s track record to date.
Across three years of breeders’ screening trials at four sites in the west and south of England, RGT Pixxon produced an average dry matter yield of 19.55t/ha, around 1t/ha better than controls. Starch levels were almost 2% higher.
RGT Pixxon has already attracted keen interest among merchants in the western side of the country, and David says awareness is spreading.
The variety has uniform, well-filled cobs, a high digestibility score and, importantly given the increasingly uncertain autumn weather, excellent lodging resistance, a well-known RAGT trait that helps protects yield and quality and keeps harvest running smoothly.
RGT Pixxon is undergoing Descriptive List trials and will be considered in June 2022 for the 2023 list.
A raft of new material is coming down the pipeline, with some now in NL trials.
“We have a family of new varieties coming through, which will help us further improve our offer to growers,” says David.
“There are some potentially significant developments which we will be demonstrating as these varieties move nearer to commercial uptake.”
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