Results of the farmer assessments carried out on the LiveWheat Legacy trials are now available. There are some interesting findings with the main result being that Extase, Mayflower and Astronomer all generally performed well, whilst Siskin, Aldiniti and Typhoon performed consistently poorly. The two modern blends tested, outperformed the average of the two components! The work on blends and the mechanisms behind their performance suggest Extase/Mayflower may be the perfect match, something we are testing in this year's trials.
We again observe a close inverse relationship between crop cover and weed cover, and that early crop cover suppresses weeds, as exemplified by the the variety Mayflower. Photos following the charts for crop and weed cover bring the data to life to show you what was observed in the field.
One concerning result was the presence of yellow rust in Extase, which may be a sign that due to its widespread popularity, the yellow rust populations may be overcoming its resistance.
Farmer Assessments have proved useful and accurate in providing the data needed to evaluate varieties. A farmer's knowledge, experience and preference in judging the performance and suitability of a variety on their farm is of extreme value and importance.
