Best barley yields ever

It’s a harvest of firsts for Norfolk grower, Kit Papworth of LF Papworth Ltd in High Norfolk, who has just harvested his earliest and highest yielding crop of winter barley.

Mr Papworth is delighted with his 21.3 ha crop of California winter barley which came in at just over 11t/ha, 14.7% moisture and specific weight of 65.7, which was harvested on the 5^th July.

Drilled on the 20^th September at Sco Ruston near, Coltishall, the crop had established well as it followed beans so had access to good autumn nitrogen, followed through the season with 200kgN/ha and a comprehensive 3 spray programme, he says.

National results

The two row winter barley has performed very well across the UK this year; results from the AHDB Recommended List and NIAB TAG trials show it to be the highest yielding winter barley variety with an average yield of 107% over control, well up on KWS Cassia at 101%.

California was launched back in 2013, by breeders Limagrain UK as a high yielding feed barley, well suited for the feed barley growing areas of the UK. It has found favour particularly with livestock farmers in the west due to its straw length (92cm with PGR) and high resistance rating for lodging (8). California produces a bold sample with lower screenings than most feed barleys.

California also has a good disease resistance package with nothing rated below a ‘5’. It has a better resistance rating than KWS Cassia to Rhynchosporium, an important disease in the wetter regions of the UK. California is also resistant to the commonly occurring strains of Barley yellow mosaic virus.

Agronomic and Quality Data