Getting the Best from KWS Cassia

Growers have a new top-yielding two-row to choose from, one which will take feed barley production to the next level.

According to plant breeder KWS it’s a combination of extremely high yield, sound straw characteristics, good disease resistance and a very bold grain, that give KWS Cassia an edge over the competition.

Couple this with BaYMV resistance and KWS Cassia is set to become a wonderfully reliable feed barley package across all soils and situations.

EXCEPTIONAL YIELDS

According to the company’s cereals manger, Keith Best, KWS Cassia is the latest in a long line of big bold two-rows from the breeding team that brought Intro and Saffron to the market.

“Currently, Saffron – five years after it was first Recommended – remains the UK’s favourite winter barley,” he says. “Growers use it to fill their barns with high yields of good-looking grain.

“Now though it’s getting a bit long in the tooth and the wise money is on KWS Cassia – once seed supplies catch up – eventually taking its crown.”

Quite simply, KWS Cassia sits on the 2010-11 UK Recommended List at 107% of controls, which gives it the joint top yielding two-row slot alongside Retriever.

However, according to Mr Best its better grain quality characteristics and performance in mainstream regions give it the edge.

“With a much bolder grain, stiffer straw and a 2% treated yield advantage in the east, KWS Cassia should out-gun Retriever,” he suggests.

KWS Cassia is also no slouch in untreated comparisons. At 87% of controls it is 4% higher yielding than both Retriever and Saffron and even further ahead of Camion and Carat.

Furthermore, at 70.8kg/hl, KWS Cassia’s RL specific weight is slightly bolder than its sister variety Saffron, but massively ahead of the 66.6kg/hl recorded for Retriever.

Also, because it is resistant to Barley Mild Mosaic Virus (BaMMV) and Barley Yellow Mosaic Virus (BaYMV), KWS Cassia will suit any soil or situation.

FAST TRACKED

KWS barley breeder David Harrap points out that fast-tracking, which takes a variety straight from an observation plot into the final stages of the testing system, has enabled the company to bring KWS Cassia to the market ahead of normal.

“Without this approach, I suspect that KWS Cassia would probably now be in NL1 trials alongside a raft of other varieties of similar yields,” he says.

In his view growers in mainstream growing regions should think twice about switching to hybrid six-rows when there are types like KWS Cassia available.

“While there are an increasing number of hybrid six-rows now on the UK Recommended List, the yield improvement is not enough to encourage farmers to grow them in mainstream arable Britain.

“KWS Cassia is just 1% behind Volume in the dry East Region and it is only in regions such as N Scotland where six rows benefit from longer grain-fill in cooler summers.

Six-rows produce many more grain sites per sq m, so the conditions have to be right or quality and yield potential is lost,” he says.

“Retriever – which was bred in Denmark – follows a similar pattern, producing many grains per m sq, requiring a coolish summer with plenty of sun to perform. This was clear last year, when conditions produced no real heat stress until late summer and Retriever’s yield was much higher than normal in Recommended List trials.

“In contrast KWS Cassia appears to be more reliable, producing fewer tillers that don’t create grain-fill issues in UK conditions,” he says.

So what can growers and agronomists expect from types like KWS Cassia and how should they be managed to secure top yields?

According to David Harrap, KWS Cassia is very similar to Saffron and it is often difficult to tell them apart, so whatever you do for Saffron, repeat for KWS Cassia to capture its higher yields.

KWS Cassia may be one to two days earlier to anthesis – this could be important further north. However, its key difference is that it has the YM-4 gene which gives it BaYMV resistance.

“To get the best from it we sow from 20th September, and hold back on the early nitrogen. You don’t want to encourage an early flush of tillering, only to see the two-row run out of steam later.”

As its untreated yields suggest, Mr Harrap sees KWS Cassia as a straightforward variety to grow. Its ability to hold onto green leaf throughout the growing season helps fuel its very high yields.

It also has excellent net blotch resistance and so fungicide programmes should focus on early season control of Rhynchosporium and mildew.

KWS Cassia is a medium height, stiff strawed variety. This gives security in the field, with only a simple PGR programme being required.

HYBRID V TWO-ROW

Openfield seed manager Paul Taylor says those looking for high yields have one of two routes to go down – hybrid six-rows such as Volume or two-rows such as KWS Cassia or Retriever.

“The beauty of the two-row route is that these types are relatively easy to manage and KWS Cassia is an obvious candidate; with hybrids you do need to get things spot on,” he says.

“In comparison with Retriever, Cassia is less variable; the clincher being the extra 4.2kg/hl specific weight. Our experience is that it is a high tillering type but you will have to look after Rhynchosporium.

“In an all arable rotation, it could be a good second wheat replacer, one that helps ensure you get rape into the ground in good time. In this situation, use Latitude to help it yield its socks off. In addition, though, Cassia is also likely to find favour in mixed farming regions, says Mr Taylor. “It is 5cm taller than Retriever and with straw an increasingly important contributor, this will help boost incomes and value of the crop on livestock farms.

“Potentially, KWS Cassia could become the dominant feed barley on farm across the mainstream growing regions within the next few years,” he says.

Peter Busfield contracts director of Dunns (Long Sutton) sees KWS Cassia ticking all the boxes that Saffron does and more. “People grow barley for a range of reasons – as an enterprise in its own right, as a good entry for rape and as a source of feed on a mixed farm,” he says.

“Cassia sits well on the Recommended List and with its inbuilt BaYMV resistance it is the one that those looking for a traditional bold-grained two-row will be going for.

“While light land growers will probably stick with malting types, we see Cassia suiting those who’ve had Pearl in the past and have fallen out with the fickle malting market.

“It will also suit those who are feeding barley to stock. With one of the best specific weights in its sector and ahead of the hybrids, Cassia produces the bold grain these guys seek.

“At the same time, while hybrids such as Volume may offer a higher yield potential – 5% on the NIAB List – they do require good attention to detail and are a more expensive package,” says Mr Busfield.

WESTERN REGION

Masstock national arable seed product manager Barry Barker sees KWS Cassia taking over from some of the varieties now grown in the western half of Britain where BaYMV resistance is absolutely essential.

“A number of growers now have Retriever and Carat in this region, and by switching to KWS Cassia they could benefit from an improved grain specification and standing ability, and in the case of Carat, a higher yield,” he says. “As a result, it should become a cornerstone variety in the west.”

Mr Barker says that in this region, a much higher proportion of winter barley is grown for feeding on farm or for selling on to neighbours than was the case four to five years ago and both Retriever and Cassia have taken yields forward.

There is no doubt that Cassia’s agronomics suits the west, he says. “Compared with Retriever it has the same yield, but has better lodging resistance and is 6-7% taller, providing more straw. And, as feed wheat and barley prices fall, barley straw becomes an increasingly valuable part of the financial package.

“In terms of disease resistance, Cassia has a slightly better net blotch rating, but doesn’t score so well for Rhynchosporium, but apart from this it does tick all the right boxes.”