Grafton

A season ago, Grafton was Specially Recommended by the HGCA because its early maturity helped spread the harvest workload.

Last autumn, it was a sell out, being viewed by growers as an ideal partner for Oakley in an all feed wheat production system – particularly in the early drilled and second wheat slot.

The HGCA has promoted Grafton to a Full UK Recommendation for 2010/11, acknowledging the variety’s mainstream acceptability and appeal in a wide range of positions on farm.

 

End Use

A hard Group 4 wheat, Grafton has the highest specific weight in its class with exceptional Hagbergs and a good level of protein.

In addition, Grafton is a non 1B1R wheat and so will suit all animal feed uses

 

Early to Drill and Early to Harvest

Firstly, Grafton has precisely the characteristics needed for those looking to make an early start to their wheat drilling campaign.

One of the slowest varieties to develop, short and stiff, with exceptional eyespot resistance and high specific weight, it can be drilled at least as early as Claire.

Grafton will allow you to spread your workload with little risk of the variety being damaged by frost or becoming over-proud and unmanageable.

When it comes to maturity, Grafton is ahead of all but one other Recommended variety and will be one of the first to harvest.

 

Growth Characteristics

Grafton is one of the last varieties to reach GS31; indeed HGCA trial data suggests it is a full week behind most varieties when early sown.

However, not surprisingly with Cordiale in its parentage, Grafton picks up speed during later stages of growth and can be one of the earliest to harvest even from a mid-season drilling.

As a result, when early drilled, Grafton won’t produce lush growth going into winter and through into the early spring, ensuring that disease and lodging control won’t be compromised.

Nothing is stiffer than Grafton. With a perfect double-9 rating for straw strength – with and without a PGR – combined with a mean height of just 80cm, it is hard to lodge.

In addition, because Grafton has the Pch-1 Rendezvous gene for eyespot, its resistance rating of 8 is exceptional, further ensuring its standing ability isn’t compromised.

With an inherently high specific weight there is a minimal risk of producing a poor sample.

Finally, because of its short, stiff straw and early maturity Grafton can be harvested easily and quickly buying you time and saving you money. This, in turn, provides an ideal early entry for OSR.

 

Ideal second wheat

Grafton’s combination of excellent eyespot and Septoria tritici resistance combined with an exceptional specific weight make it an outstanding second wheat. Indeed, there is no higher yielding second wheat on the UK Recommended List.

Data source: HGCA Recommended List 2010/11 for Winter Wheat

Variety	Treated 2nd wheat yield (%)	Eyespot resistance	Septoria tritici	Specific weight (kg/hl)
Grafton	105	8	6	78.6
JB-Diego	105	6	6	77.6
Duxford	105	6	5	76.4

Grafton also has good resistance ratings to most foliar diseases. However, when early drilling it is essential to keep on top of fungal pathogens at T0 and T1 timings and, with low resistance to brown rust, this disease needs targeting.

Data source: HGCA Recommended List 2010/11 for Winter Wheat

Grafton	(1-9)
Mildew	7
Yellow rust	7
Brown rust	3
S. nodorum	(6)
S. tritici	6
Eyespot	8
Fusarium ear blight	(5)

In addition, UK Recommended List data shows that Grafton is a consistent performer across the UK producing strong yields in every region.

While setting new standards for early drilling, Grafton is also a variety that ticks many other boxes on-farm and is one to test on your most fertile of fields in the main wheat slot.

Grafton is susceptible to chlorotoluron.