Integrated Crop Knowledge

KWS maintains that by providing growers with cereals, rape, beet and maize varieties from within its portfolio it is well placed to consider the key characteristics of one crop and variety after another within the crop rotation.

Selection of the right wheat after beet is critical and KWS UK is working on varieties that have the early vigour to cope with the later seedbeds prepared after beet and which are fast to accelerate in the spring and so catch up with their counterparts.

Equally, with around 90% of the beet crop following a cereal, there’s quite a period – normally 7-8 moths - when land lies fallow before the next beet crop is drilled in March or April.

During this time any nitrogen is mineralised and potentially lost – particularly in typical sandy soils where beet is a favourite break.

At the same time, it would make sense to be able to crop the land and so make use of autumn and spring growing periods. In this light, KWS is looking at frost tolerant and highly bolting resistant winter sugar beet types. These could, in theory, push beet crop yields up by 20-30%.