UK-Wide Testing

KWS partner, Huntseeds – also an exclusive supplier of KWS maize hybrids in the UK – carries out extensive trials and these are seen as essential to the breeder and the grower, especially as the boundaries for maize growing move further north and it has become more important to develop early hybrids to cope with the more extreme conditions.

This partnership now covers a range of fully replicated trials at 9 locations throughout the UK, exceeding 3500 plots and securing valuable data that supplements official NIAB and MGA data – particularly on quality.

“Without it, successful variety introduction in the UK would be much more hit and miss,” says Thomas.

For the future, UK growers should expect to see varieties that are even more cold tolerant, have better disease resistance and standing power. “We have a special programme developing varieties that are more cold tolerant, with out-centres based in Denmark, Sweden and the Baltic,” says Mr Mallmann.

This completely new generation of maize types has resulted from KWS being able to transfer cold tolerance genes – from US varieties – into higher yielding, maturity class 8, 9 and even 10-11 maize varieties from the EU.

One of the first types from this new programme KXA 7006 – will be test marketed in the UK this year.With 1500 or so packs available,KWS-UK is looking for growers in the north and west to test it’s potential.

In addition, KWS is also working on improving disease resistance in its maize varieties and with standing power a key issue – KWS is also selecting material with improved stability to lengthen the potential harvest window.