United Kingdom
August 24, 2022
Norfolk grower Will More was the first farmer in the country to grow Group 3 newcomer RGT Rashid when he planted the variety in autumn 2020, and he followed up with a further seed crop this season.
Will, a partner at R J More and Partners’ Manor Farm, Tunstall near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, has been growing seed crops for RAGT for several years, and is very impressed by RGT Rashid’s performance over two very different seasons.
His first crop of Rashid, a 15.6ha field grown for basic seed production, was sown in late September 2020 at 180kg/ha after vining peas, following a deep subsoil. Some ground was disced but Will also had to resort to the plough due to the wet weather, which set in for much of the winter.
“We had an inordinate amount of rainfall, which was a bit of a challenge in every respect,” says Will. “But Rashid performed pretty admirably all things considered. Growth picked up rapidly after we applied 50kgN/ha of nitrogen and sulphur in early March. It tillered well and grew away quickly.”
The Rashid had a robust fungicide programme and grew well through to harvest, remaining pretty clean despite the season. It yielded 10.3t/ha.
“We were very pleased with that,” says Will. “It exceeded our seed average of 10t/ha.”
He grew RGT Rashid again this past season in the same field, which was ploughed and drilled with Latitude-treated seed at 175kg/ha in mid October 2021 in excellent conditions.
The crop received a total of 240kg/ha of N. No T0 fungicide was needed; T1 consisted of Syrex + Myresa + folpet, with a further Syrex application plus Aquino at T2. Prosaro was applied at T3.
“We try to keep a degree of flexibility with our fungicide programmes, hence no T0 this season,” says Will. “But where applicable we tend to be fairly belt and braces, especially with the seed wheats.
“We had a little bit of Septoria; being in a coastal position it is par for the course and easily managed. But this has been a yellow rust year – we had a couple of other varieties from different breeders that were affected by yellow rust, and one broke down to the disease.
“The Rashid really held its own, carried on through and was fine. It yielded 10.5t/ha as a second wheat, which was pretty phenomenal, equalling some of our blocks of Group 4 feed wheat and bettered only by a field of RGT Saki grown as a first wheat for feed, which did incredibly well.”
Will says he would certainly consider Rashid as a commercial crop. “We want shorter, stiff-strawed varieties on the heavy loamy clays where we grow our barnfillers. And we try to get these in early, but we also drill later after sugar beet, so Rashid’s drilling date flexibility looks very useful.
“The variety also suits light and heavy soil types. The field we grew it in varied between heavy clay and some sandy areas, but it looked pretty even across the board. And it is also resistant to orange wheat blossom midge, which is important.
“It looks like RGT Rashid covers all the bases for us.”
RGT Rashid key points
- Secure choice biscuit wheat
- Highest yielding group 3 for the East
- Good grain quality
- Very good straw
- Excellent disease profile – highest S tritici rating of all RL soft wheats
- OWBM resistance
- Suitable for early drilling, but can be sown late
- Grow as first or second wheat
- Suits light and heavy land
* Go to www.ragtseeds.co.uk/news to see how a range of RAGT varieties are faring this harvest.
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