A wide sowing window coupled with strong disease resistance and higher yields has resulted in RGT Saki becoming one of the most reliable varieties on farm this season
According to Tom Dummett, cereal and oilseed product manager for RAGT Seeds, Heavyweight Group 4 wheat RGT Saki, which was fully recommended last year and will be widely grown this season, is an ideal choice for growers looking for flexibility in their start date or who are facing the threat of adverse weather or problem grassweeds
In 2018 in RAGT trials, RGT Saki yielded 110% of controls when drilled on 25 September while Skyscraper and Santiago managed 105% and 103% respectively.
The following year, in RAGT trials drilled on 14 September, RGT Saki produced 108% of controls, equal to Skyscraper and a point ahead of Santiago.
Mr Dummett says that the variety features exceptional fungicide-treated (104) and untreated (86) yields, among the best on the Recommended List, underpinned by excellent agronomics and disease resistance scores.
The variety also produces high yields when late-drilled, he adds: “It is rated at 107 on the Recommended List when sown after 1 November, albeit on very limited data. However, that reflects what we have seen over the past few years.”
Cambridgeshire farmer Sam Morris says his 15ha crop of RGT Saki was the stand-out variety on his heavy soils at Top Farm, Croydon.
It was drilled at 200kg/ha on 5 October after beans. “It went in well and always looked to be our best bit of wheat,” says Mr Morris.
“It held on better than the others in the dry – the variety seemed to develop a little slower, which may have helped, though it largely caught up by early June.
“It ended up being far and away our highest yielder. The combine recorded over 10.8t/ha, though I’ll wait to see what it weighs out at before confirming anything. On comparable evidence it out-yielded our next best bit of wheat by 0.5t/ha.”
