New top-yielding milling wheat KWS Zyatt has been granted full Group 1 milling approval by NABIM following the successful milling and baking of commercial quantities from harvest 2016. The approval is the independent confirmation demanded by the supply chain that KWS Zyatt fully meets the specifications of the UK milling and baking industry.
Bred by KWS UK, KWS Zyatt is the highest-yielding, Group 1 milling wheat on the AHDB 2017-18 Recommended List (RL). It is also an approved export variety, carrying the ukp endorsement, confirming that it will satisfy the needs of continental millers.
Martin Savage, NABIM trade policy manager, described KWS Zyatt as a welcome addition to the Group 1 category.
“We’re pleased to see another high-yielding Group 1 with excellent breadmaking potential join the RL,” he said.
“Over the past two years, 60 tonnes of a commercial crop have been milled for baking by six companies, including Camden BRI, the independent testing and advisory service.
“The results from our member companies confirmed it was a variety that performed well as a Group 1 and gave us the confidence to upgrade its recommendation from provisional to full. Consequently, we anticipate it will find broad market acceptance,” he added.
The ukp status gives continental millers confidence that the variety has the rheological characteristics they require from ukp wheats further supporting its export suitability.
“Across Europe there is greater reliance on the Chopin alveograph measures whereas in the UK we look at the rheology using the Farinograph and examine the total baking performance. Just because a variety is a UK Group 1, doesn’t mean it will perform according to the expectation of continental bakers. The ukp system serves to highlight which varieties can be expected to meet continental needs and are therefore suitable for export,” explained Martin Savage.
BAKING TESTS
Added to the RL in December 2016 and on show at Cereals last year, KWS Zyatt has attracted much interest with the available stock seed quickly selling out. It is expected to take 8% of the certified seed market this autumn.
During the variety’s near-to-market development, KWS commissioned a series of private baking trials, spanning three years and with three commercial millers, to compare the performance of KWS Zyatt with that of market leading Group 1 varieties.
“The tests confirmed KWS Zyatt’s ability to hit the yields and maintain good functional proteins for the millers,” says KWS value chain manager, Dr Kirsty Richards. “Furthermore, the variety has been proven to be easy and quick to mill.”
In comparison with other Group 1 variety Skyfall, over two contrasting seasons, KWS Zyatt performed strongly.
“KWS Zyatt showed good extraction rates and the ability to produce flour proteins, water absorption and starch damage in line with other Group 1 varieties tested. More detailed examinations of its potential in the white loaf bread product, revealed that KWS Zyatt produced heavier wet gluten than the Skyfall comparison, confirmation that it has very functional proteins for bakers to utilise.
“This translated into KWS Zyatt creating a strong white flour product which baked very well, delivering white loaves with excellent oven spring and loaf volume. This work has highlighted that KWS Zyatt could be useful ingredient across an array of white bakery products in the future,” says Dr Kirsty Richards.
Strong baking credentials however, are often not enough to see a variety become fully established among growers, and KWS believes its sound agronomic profile, impressive regional performance and excellent second wheat yields will earn it a strong following.
“An untreated yield of 91% of controls is among the best on the RL while its second cereal performance of 103% of controls is outstanding. It performs strongly in both the East and West yielding 2% ahead of other Group 1 varieties (102% and 103% of controls, respectively) suggesting the variety will find favour in the bread-wheat heartlands of the UK,” says Dr Kirsty Richards.
