United Kingdom
September 6, 2022
Oxfordshire farmer and long-term Skyfall and RGT Illustrious grower Adrian Taylor has reported another very successful harvest for both varieties.
“We are market led to an extent as Warburtons like these two varieties, but we get on very well with them too,” says Adrian, who has grown Skyfall for the past eight years and RGT Illustrious for seven at Clattercote Priory Farm, Claydon.
“They complement each other well and help spread risk. Skyfall is earlier to harvest while the Illustrious will hang on; it has good resistance to sprouting, which helps preserve Hagberg, so we can spread the workload without worrying.
“Illustrious does better on heavier land and can be drilled earlier, while Skyfall does well on the lighter land. I noticed a near 2t/ha reduction with one Group 3 variety between lighter and heavier soils this year, but Skyfall does us well, even in the bad years. And it has midge resistance, which is one of the reasons we switched to it in the first place.”
RGT Illustrious has the edge over Skyfall on disease resistance scores, particularly yellow rust. “But I’ve grown a lot of yellow-rust prone varieties,” says Adrian. “As long as you are on the ball, it is easy enough to control. We do tend to match fungicides to varieties a bit, and we always add tebuconazole in the mix for yellow rust.”
The value of that policy was made clear this season when the tebuconazole was omitted by mistake at the flag leaf timing on a 40ha block of Skyfall. While the crop still achieved a creditable 9t/ha, two further blocks of 22ha and 33ha that received the chemical remained clean and yielded 10t/ha and 11.6t/ha respectively.
Adrian’s RGT Illustrious averaged 10.8t/ha at 11.7% moisture over 40ha of deeper, better bodied land.
“In a good year we’d expect these sorts of levels. We’ve had two below-average years across all varieties – we seem to have gone back to a good average.”
Nitrogen applications were made with that in mind. “We bought nitrogen about right last season, so all the wheats had the usual amount,” says Adrian.
As a result, protein levels were spot on, with Skyfall averaging 12.75% and RGT Illustrious hitting 12.87%. “I’m very pleased with that – Warburtons only require 12.5% protein. So we made full spec.”
Hagberg and specific weight hit 380 and 84.2kg/hl respectively across the Skyfall, and 338 and 81.4kg/hl in the RGT Illustrious.
Both varieties will continue their long run on the farm. “It’s remarkable how consistent they are,” say Adrian. “There’s nothing on offer at the moment that would tempt me away.”
Skyfall
· The nation’s favourite Group 1 wheat
· Widest sowing window
· Only Group 1 with OWBM resistance and Pch1 eyespot resistance
· Short, stiff straw
· Late-season security – strong on brown rust and fusarium
· Early ripening
RGT Illustrious
· Excellent disease resistance
· Top quality Group 1 milling wheat
· Popular with millers
· Consistent performer
· Pch1 eyespot resistance
* Find out more about Skyfall, RGT Illustrious and other RAGT varieties this harvest at www.ragtseeds.co.uk/news
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