14 new varieties have been added to the PGRO descriptive list, nine new pea varieties, four spring bean varieties and a single winter bean.
PGRO Senior Technical Officer Dr Chris Judge says the standouts are the performance of the new entrants and that lots of new yellow peas are being tested for the UK. “Yellows are very popular in continental Europe but have always been a relatively smaller crop area in the UK. But with increasing interest in home-grown protein, there is room for the yellow pea growing area to expand.”
Seven yellow combining peas were added to the list – KWS Bram (KWS), Marler (Cope Seeds & Grain), NOS Blondie (Elsoms), Captur (Agrovista), Bellair (IARA), LG Corvet (Limagrain), and Bonham (Senova).
KWS Bram matches Concerto for yield, Marler and NOS Blondie a fraction behind. At 8 LG Corvet has the best downy mildew rating. Bellair and Marler increase the options for varieties with powdery mildew resistance.
Capture bucks the trend of good protein levels and yield. “In general, there is a trend for higher protein coming from the lower yielding varieties, Captur doesn’t fit this pattern with good protein and yield scores,” adds Chris.
New green pea Pangea is the highest-yielding green pea on the 2025 list, yielding 114% of controls. New variety Midori is the top-yielding marrowfat at 103%.
Green peas Carrington and Bluetime offer the best downy mildew rating, both maple peas Mantara and Rose also have good scores, Rose being a 9. Of the marrowfats, Vision is the best at 7. Pangea also offers high powdery mildew resistance, joining Reacher and LG Aviator.
Of the four spring bean varieties that have been added – Notilus (Senova), LG Eagle, (Limagrain UK), Ketu and Loki (NPZ) – Notilus and LG Eagle top the list for yield with a score of 110%. Ketu isn’t far behind and joins Synergy and Futura as an LVC variety for animal feed. Loki had a good rust rating of 6.
6 is the new downy mildew rating for Lynx, Chris believes its rating has dipped due to its popularity and new races overcoming it
Early maturing Miro (Senova) is a new addition to the 2025 winter bean list. It’s the highest yielding of all the early varieties and has the joint highest chocolate spot rating on the list with 7. However, it only gets a 3 for downy mildew. Vincent and Vespa jointly top the list for yield.
New for this season is claimed virus resistance. KWS Bram has purported resistance to BYMV, Bellair and Reacher for PSbMP and the latter also to PEMV.
The list remains a similar size to previous seasons due to varieties leaving the list after discussion with plant breeders. Beans present on the 2024 list that haven’t been listed in 2025 include Victus, Vertigo, and the early variety Yukon.
